Former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who is a witness in the case of theft at Oboronstroy, continues to use an official Ministry of Defense car with special signals, permission for which was issued by the current head of the department Sergei Shoigu, the Izvestia newspaper reported on Monday.

“The official car is actually at the disposal of former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov,” the publication quotes the words of an officer of the Main Armored Directorate. He told the newspaper that Shoigu, by his order, gave Serdyukov the right to use a department vehicle equipped with special signals.

The former Minister of Defense uses a company car on a general basis, which covers the category of persons who have served the military department. As minister, Serdyukov had the right to two official cars - a Mercedes and a BMW with replaceable drivers and a VAI (military traffic police) escort vehicle. Now he has one car at his disposal and only by prior request. It was in this black Mercedes with license plate P483РХ that Serdyukov came to the Investigative Committee of Russia more than once. According to the publication, in the traffic police fines database for this car there are fines of 4,600 rubles for speeding.

The former head of the motor transport department of the Ministry of Defense, Sergei Klimov, told the newspaper that providing a company car for the use of retired ministers is a common practice. Former Defense Minister Igor Rodionov occasionally enjoys a similar privilege. Former defense ministers Igor Sergeev and Pavel Grachev also used a company car after their dismissal.

The scandal involving the sale of the Ministry of Defense property erupted in the fall of 2012, when facts of fraud amounting to more than 2 billion rubles were revealed. As a result, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov was dismissed. since November 2012 And the ex-head of the department of property relations of the department, Evgenia Vasilyeva , has been under house arrest .

Shoigu left Serdyukov with an official Defense Ministry car