Serdyukov being questioned as witness over misappropriation in Defense Ministry - official
MOSCOW. Dec 28 (Interfax) - Former Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has arrived at the Investigative Committee and is answering questions as a witness as part of an inquiry into fraudulent transactions involving real estate owned by the Defense Ministry.
"The decision to question Serdyukov required serious reasons and a set of procedural and investigative measures, which took us some time," Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax.
"Based on the results of this work, detectives from the committee's Main Investigative Directorate outlined a range of questions to the former defense minister about the circumstances surrounding the crimes committed in the ministry," he said.
"That is why Serdyukov was summoned for questioning today. He is testifying as a witness at the moment," he said.
Investigators will thoroughly analyze the results of the interrogation and will decide what to do next," Markin said.
Serdyukov's lawyer Genrikh Padva told Interfax on Thursday that his client had met with an investigator in connection with the Oboronservis case and was handed a subpoena. The lawyer did not say what the subpoena was about.
In October, several criminal cases were opened into 6.7-billion-ruble embezzlement and property fraud involving state-run Defense Ministry firms, OAO Oboronservis and OOO Slavyanka.
Two suspects were remanded into custody.