NTpharma executives, Pereslavl-Zalessky mayor indicted in Rusnano embezzlement case
MOSCOW. Nov 25 (Interfax) - Pereslavl-Zalessky Mayor Denis Koshurnikov and NTpharma LLC executives have been indicted in the Rusnano embezzlement case, Russian Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said.
"The Russian Investigative Committee's Main Investigative Department has brought accusations against NTpharma LLC founder Rustam Ataullakhanov, NTpharma General Director Yevgeny Sultanov and Pereslavl-Zalessky Mayor Koshurnikov in the criminal inquiry," Petrenko told Interfax on Friday.
Ataullakhanov and Sultanov were charged with major embezzlement of entrusted assets, and Koshurnikov was accused of abusing the office of a local self-government body with severe consequences, she said.
On November 18, the Moscow Basmanny Court put Koshurnikov under arrest until January 16, 2017.
Earlier the court arrested NTpharma founder Rustam Ataullakhanov until the same date. The defendant pleaded not guilty.
NTpharma LLC General Director Yevgeny Sultanov was put under house arrest until January 16, 2017. He made a partial confession.
Russian Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said earlier that "starting from 2010, Rusnano invested more than one billion rubles in NTpharma to build a pharmaceutical enterprise in the territory of the Pereslavl district of the Yaroslavl region. It was supposed to have gone into operation by September 2012."
However, the information available to investigators indicates that "the management of the design company had repeatedly postponed the agreed timeframe."
"Jointly with the Russian Interior Ministry's Economic Crime and Anti-Corruption Department and the Federal Security Service's Economic Security Service, detectives established that the project was put on hold for years while the money was embezzled. Seeking to imitate operations, Ataullakhanov and Sultanov acquired a plot of land in the Pleshcheyevo Ozero National Park from Protect LLC owned by Koshurnikov in 2011. As of the moment of the deal, Koshurnikov was the head of the Pereslavl district administration and issued a construction permit without the written consent of the Russian Natural Resources and Ecology Ministry," Petrenko said.
The NTpharma facility for manufacturing vaccines and pharmaceuticals is located in Pereslavl-Zalessky, the Yaroslavl region. According to the Spark-Interfax database, Rusnano's share in NTpharma amounts to 49%; another 20.3% belongs to Prom-bi (owned by Rustam Ataullakhanov), and the rest to two Cyprus-based companies.