Court extends Col. Zakharchenko's arrest until September 8
MOSCOW. June 1 (Interfax) - The Basmanny court of Moscow has extended the arrest of police colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, charged with corruption, until September.
"The court ruled that the investigator's petition be granted and the custody period for Zakharchenko, Dmitry Viktorovich, be extended until September 8, 2017," judge Yelena Lenskaya read out the decision on Thursday.
In his petition the investigator pointed out that a large amount of inquiries had by now been carried out, including over 40 interrogations, over 30 searches, seizures, and so on. "Nevertheless, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of gathered evidence to either open new criminal cases or to add new counts to the existing ones," investigator Sergei Chernyshyov told the court.
There is a risk of Zakharchenko absconding, he said. "For a long time he held senior positions at the Interior Ministry and knows investigation methods and tactics, has broad connections in the government system and can influence on the course of the investigation," Chernyshyov said.
"At the moment there is no ground for changing his restraining measures. I request that my petition be granted in full," the investigator said.
Zakharchenko himself asked the court to reject the petition as unjustified and unmotivated.
He and his lawyers asked to replace the detention with a house arrest.
A former acting head of the T Department of the police anti-corruption unit, Zakharchenko is charged with three counts of taking a big bribe, including seven million rubles from a former Rusengineering chief and co-owner Anatoly Pshegornitsky; $800,000 from the restaurateur Mehdi Douss, and - from him again - 3.5 million rubles in the form of a La Maree Restaurant discount card.
Zakharchenko is also charged with abuse of office and obstructing justice for having supposedly warned Larisa Marchukova, a sister of Nota Bank financial director Galina Marchukova, about planned searches.
Investigators probing Zakharchenko's case conducted searches of his house and offices and seized a large amount of cash, including foreign, equivalent in total to nine billion rubles. The provenance of the money is being investigated.