Translated material
The former vice-governor of St. Petersburg was accused of theft during the construction of Zenit-Arena
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation charged the former vice-governor of St. Petersburg Marat Oganesyan in connection with theft during the construction of the Zenit Arena stadium on Krestovsky Island. This was reported on the SK website.
Oganesyan is accused of committing a crime under paragraph 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud). We are talking about fraud, committed by an organized group or on a particularly large scale. The punishment for such a crime is imprisonment for up to ten years with a fine of up to 1 million rubles.
The SK report noted that during the interrogation, Oganesyan refused to testify as the accused. “In the near future, the investigation will apply to the court to choose a preventive measure in the form of detention,” the SK indicated.
Oganesyan was detained in Moscow on November 16 and transferred to St. Petersburg. In addition, investigators conducted searches in the places of his residence in Moscow and the Moscow Region. The investigation established that in 2014, Oganesyan organized a scheme during which more than 50 million rubles were stolen at the conclusion of a contract for the installation of a video table for Zenit-Arena. The funds were transferred to the Subcessor Contractor TDM, which was attracted by Hovhannisyan, and then stolen through one-day firms, and the work was never completed.
The erection of Zenit-Arena began in 2007. The project was adjusted three times - in 2008, 2010 and 2013, while the cost of work increased, and the delivery time was shifted to a later one. In June 2016, the planned costs of the stadium increased to 39 billion rubles. Zenit Arena must be commissioned before the end of the current year in order to be able to accept the Confederations Cup matches in 2017 and the World Cup in 2018.