18 Apr 2011 10:52

Arbat-Prestige case closed in absence of elements of offense

MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax) - Investigative bodies of the Central Federal District have officially closed the criminal case of former director of Arbat-Prestige chain of cosmetics shops Vladimir Nekrasov and his business partner Sergei Shnaider.

"Criminal proceedings were stopped in the absence of essential elements of offense," Nekrasov's lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky told Interfax on Monday.

He reminded the agency that last October Tushinsky district court in Moscow returned the case of Nekrasov and Shnaider to the prosecutor's office over flaws of procedure.

"An additional inspection established that the defendants had paid all their taxes and that the claims to them had been unjustified," Dobrovinsky said.