Deputy Minister of Culture is charged with fraud in the case of multimillion -dollar theft

Investigators have officially charged the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Grigory Pirumov, who was arrested in resonant case of multimillion -dollar theft in the department. Earlier, last week, the Lefortovo court of the capital authorized the arrest of an official until May 10.

“Pirumov is charged with organizing especially large fraud by a group of persons. He is currently interrogated as the accused,” TASS, a source close to the investigation explained to the TASS agency.

Later, the lawyer of the Deputy Minister of Culture Fedor Kupriyanov said that the organization of theft of budget funds at three more facilities in the regions of Russia is charged with Priumov, in addition to the Novodevichy Monastery, which was previously mentioned in the media.

"The accusation was charged with four episodes - the Novodevichy Monastery, the Drama Theater in Pskov, the John -Baptist Monastery and the Cosmonautics Museum in Kaluga. The Izborskaya fortress and the Hermitage do not appear in the prosecution," the lawyer told reporters.

Kupriyanov also clarified that the amount of damage on new episodes is unknown to him so far. It is expected that the Moscow City Court will consider the appeal of the arrest of Pirumov on April 7.

On March 16, during the court hearing, the prosecution requested the arrest, and Pirumov’s lawyer Fedor Kulianov asked his client to choose a preventive measure in the form of house arrest. The lawyer then emphasized that his client was ready to cooperate with the investigation and give detailed testimonies, and also asked to attach to the case a positive characteristic signed by the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky.

Despite this, the court granted the investigation and put Pirumov under arrest. The defense of the Deputy Minister of Culture has already stated that it was going to appeal the court decision.

In total, six persons involved in the theft in the Ministry of Culture were arrested. The criminal case is investigated under the article "Fraud on an especially large scale." It is held by the deputy head of the Russian Ministry of Culture Grigory Pirumov, Director of the Department of Property Management of the Ministry of Culture Boris MAZO , Director of the Central Specifications Federal State Unitary Enterprise Oleg Ivanov, Director and Managing of the Baltztroy company Dmitry Sergeyev and Alexander Kochenov, as well as adviser to the general director of Linnit-Konsult, Nikita Kolesnikov.

Ministry of Culture and entrepreneurs are suspected of embezzlement of state funds allocated for restoration work at cultural heritage sites, including the State Hermitage, the Novodevichy Monastery and the Izborsk fortress.

According to the media, Pirumov, in particular, is suspected of embezzlement during the restoration of cultural monuments, and the detention of top managers of Baltstro is associated with the restoration of the Novodevichy Monastery in Moscow. According to the investigation, Sergeyev and Koshenov organized the conclusion of a contract on behalf of the Ministry of Culture with the organization of Stroyfasad CJSC, which received 50 million rubles for the work. At the same time, the amount of payment was overstated, and the participants in the criminal group forged certificates of work.

The resonant case of the theft in the Ministry of Culture gave rise to numerous conversations about the resignation of the head of the department Vladimir Medinsky. The day before, the adviser to the President of the Russian Federation on culture Vladimir Tolstoy told reporters that on the site of Medinsky he would resign in connection with the corruption scandal.

“The leader selects the team, and he must bear responsibility for her,” said Vladimir Putin adviser. According to him, the culture is "the last place where corruption may exist, since the internal rod should not allow people involved in culture to have personal interest."

Prior to this, the head of the Commission on Culture of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, Maxim Reznik and five more non-partisan deputies, completely prepared a draft appeal to the city parliament to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with a proposal to send Medinsky to resign "due to the loss of trust." According to the Kommersant newspaper, representatives of opposition factions in the State Duma supported this initiative.