Russian Deputy Energy Minister Tikhonov charged with embezzling over 600 mln rubles - Investigative Committee
MOSCOW. Sept 9 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Tikhonov and three other defendants have been charged with embezzling more than 600 million rubles allotted to the Energy Ministry's Russian Energy Agency for the purpose of creating an information system, Russian Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said.
"The investigation has established the involvement in the embezzlement of at least 603 million rubles of former Russian Energy Agency Director Anatoly Tikhonov, his advisor Roman Ryzhkov, and Lanit JSC Vice-Presidents Vladimir Makarov and Viktor Serebryakov," Petrenko told Interfax on Wednesday.
The four defendants "have been accused of a crime defined by Part 4, Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code (fraud)," she said.
"Tikhonov currently serves as a Russian deputy energy minister. Yet, he tried to flee using various tricks, changing his vehicles and places of temporary residence in Moscow multiple times," Petrenko said.
She said investigators would file a motion for the suspects' arrest.
"Tikhonov was found as a result of a search of his apartment and a series of correctly planned investigative procedures and operative measures taken together with officers of the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry. The offices and residences of the suspects were searched, and documents and other material evidence were seized," Petrenko said.
The criminal case was opened on counts of major embezzlement of public funds allocated to the Russian Energy Agency for the creation of an information system.
