Bolshoi Theater funds theft suspect placed under house arrest
MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - Moscow's Ostankino Court has placed Teplotekhnik company general director Alexander Semchenko, who has been accused of fraud during the Bolshoi Theater's reconstruction, under house arrest.
"Semchenko was placed under house arrest at the request of investigators," court spokesperson Viktoria Tikhomirova told Interfax.
It was reported earlier that Russia's police service for economic crimes discovered the theft of 90 million rubles from state money allocated for an overhaul of the electricity supply equipment of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater.
The repairs had been undertaken by the Teplotekhnik company under a 2005 contract with the Directorate for Construction, Reconstruction and Restoration, a federal state agency.
"The contractor had failed to fulfill its contractual commitments by the deadline set to it: only partial repairs had been carried out, and with departures from technical regulations as well," the ministry spokesman said.
Nevertheless, Directorate officials did sign an act certifying that Teplotekhnik had met all its contractual commitments. "As a result, about 90 million rubles was unjustifiably transferred to the accounts of Teplotekhnik," the spokesman said.
