Translated material
Former deputy chairman of the Novosibirsk mayor's office accused of fraud
Investigative authorities have charged Mikhail Kuzmin, the former deputy chairman of the mayor's committee for interaction with administrative bodies of the Novosibirsk mayor's office, with fraud, the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee for the Siberian Federal District told the Interfax-Siberia agency.
“He has been charged under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale), the investigation of the case continues,” said a representative of the department.
He clarified that M. Kuzmin remains in custody.
According to investigators, in September-October 2012, the suspects developed a scheme to fraudulently steal funds in the amount of 1 million rubles belonging to a local businessman. Upon receipt of part of the specified amount, the official was detained.
400 thousand rubles were confiscated from the detainees, while the suspects established a monthly fee for services to resolve various issues in favor of the victim’s commercial firm.
In early November, the Central District Court of Novosibirsk chose a preventive measure for M. Kuzmin in the form of detention, agreeing with the prosecution’s arguments that the suspect could escape and also take advantage of his connections in law enforcement agencies, since he had previously worked in the West Siberian Department of Internal Affairs at transport.
At the time of his arrest, M. Kuzmin was acting as chairman of the committee.
Meanwhile, on March 1, the new head of this unit, Anatoly Potapov, who previously headed the police department N5 “Dzerzhinsky” of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for Novosibirsk, took up his duties, the press center of the Novosibirsk City Hall reports.