Ex-Defense Minister Serdyukov is in Russia - investigators
MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax) - Former Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who faces a criminal investigation on the counts of negligence, is currently in Russia, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax.
"Serdyukov is currently in the country. A measure of restraint will be imposed on him later," he said.
It was announced earlier that a negligence inquiry had been opened against Serdyukov. "Investigators believe that when he held the post of defense minister, Serdyukov issued verbal instructions to his subordinates to build a motorway linking the village of Krasa in the Ikryanino district of the Astrakhan region and Shkolny island, on which the Zhitnoye non-profit partnership is located, and fund the project from the ministry's budget," Markin said earlier.
"Serdyukov explained his instruction with the alleged need to build a recreation center for the Defense Ministry. Apart from that, measures were also taken on orders issued by the ex-minister to build the necessary amenities on the premises of Zhitnoye," he said.
"The work to plant a garden there was conducted by Air Force unit soldiers, while the road was constructed by a battalion of the Railroad Troops," Markin said.
The measures authorized by the former defense minister are believed to have caused damage of over 56 million rubles to the country's budget, he added.
