State property misappropriated as Rostekhnologii was being formed
MOSCOW. Dec 10 (Interfax) - A joint working group set up at the initiative of Russian state corporation Rostekhnologii has got hold of papers on 50 instances of misappropriation of state property as various enterprises were being made part of the corporation, Rostekhnologii and the Interior Ministry said in a joint press release on Thursday.
Prosecutor General Yury Chaika recently made a report on investigations into the alleged misappropriations to President Dmitry Medvedev, the release said.
Chika said 22 criminal cases had been put together.
"As such information is at times distorted, it needs to be specially emphasized that the corporation is not the target but the initiator of all those proceedings, which are usually proceedings against former owners or managers of enterprises that were being handed over to the corporation," the release said.
On Thursday, senior Interior Ministry and Rostekhnologii figures held a joint conference at which they heard results of criminal investigations and crime prevention measures at Rostekhnologii enterprises in 2009.
The release quoted Rostekhnologii General Director Sergei Chemezov as, in part, saying at the conference that, "by handing to the state corporation about 500 enterprises in various Russian industries as property contributions, the state has infringed on the personal interests of a very large number of less-than-honest officials and business people, who are now trying to compensate themselves for the losses they have sustained."
Moreover, "some of them, taking advantage of the lengthy procedure of handover of enterprises to Rostekhnologii, have looted property, created artificial accounts payable and committed a series of other economic crimes," Chemezov said.