The Investigative Committee has finished an inquiry into Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak, who is charged with attempted large-scale fraud, and forwarded the case to the Prosecutor General’s Office, Interfax said Friday.
Storchak, as well as bankers Viktor Zakharov and Vadim Volkov, is suspected of trying to embezzle $43.4 million in state money. Storchak, who spent 11 months in pretrial detention before being released in 2008, has denied wrongdoing.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Friday that his ministry has filed an official request to drop the case with the Prosecutor General’s Office, which is now to consider whether to present Storchak with formal charges.
(MT)
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