The court extended the arrest of the former deputy minister of investment policy until February 15

The Oktyabrsky District Court of Saratov on Monday extended until February 15, 2012 the detention period of the former first deputy minister of investment policy of the region, Gelena Alekseeva, who became one of the defendants in the criminal case of commercial bribery, said the ex-official’s lawyer Taimuraz Totikov. According to investigators, the defendants “demanded an illegal reward of six million rubles from representatives of one of the limited liability companies for signing agreements with the municipal unitary enterprise on joint activities in the construction of a residential building, while setting the condition that in case of refusal to transfer funds, the agreements would not be signed, and land plots will not be provided for development.” Former first deputy minister Alekseev, director of the Saratov City Capital Construction and Equipment Municipal Unitary Enterprise Roman Filchushkin, his deputy Konstantin Voronkov, as well as the officially unemployed Ivan Natashkin were detained on suspicion of crime. Ms. Alekseeva’s defense intends to appeal the decision to extend the arrest, since, the interlocutor noted, “this is absolutely illegal, unlawful.” “This (extension of arrest) is possible only in exceptional cases, (that is) when the investigation of the case is particularly difficult. In the present case, the investigation is being carried out by an investigative team of six people. At the same time, investigator Krechina openly stated in court that “I am doing the investigation alone and I don’t have time, others have other things to do.” But what does Alekseeva have to do with it?” - said the defender. According to him, “there is a clear lack of system in the investigation of the case,” since only after four months of investigation the investigation plans include a request for a printout of the accused’s communications.

"RIA News"

Kommersant (Saratov) No. 233 from 12/13/2011

Process – Kommersant Saratov