Russian ex-lawmaker put on Interpol wanted list for fraud

May 19th, 2011 - 10:25 pm ICT by IANS  

Moscow, May 19 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Interpol’s General Secretariat has officially put former Russian lawmaker Ashot Yegiazaryan on its wanted list over large-scale fraud charges, said a spokesman for Russia’s Investigative Committee Thursday.

Yegiazaryan, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), is accused of embezzling more than 500 million rubles ($16.2 million) from a former acquaintance for the construction of a trade centre in Moscow and the renovation of the Moskva Hotel adjacent to Red Square.

“As a part of this criminal case, Interpol’s General Secretariat has put Ashot Yegiazaryan on its wanted list. The investigation is under way,” spokesman Vladimir Markin said.

Investigators say in 2003 Yegiazaryan suggested that Mikhail Ananyev, former deputy head of the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo), invest in the facilities in exchange for a stake.

Yegiazaryan is also believed to have fraudulently acquired the right to 20 percent in shares worth over 1.5 billion rubles ($48.7 million) in a joint stock company that runs a Moscow shopping and leisure complex.

In November 2010, the lower house of the Russian parliament stripped Yegiazaryan of his political immunity following a request by Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika.

It was only the fourth time a lawmaker has been stripped of immunity since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In late 2010, the former lawmaker was put on the international wanted list. Media reports say the ex-lawmaker is now living in the US.

–IANS/RIA Novosti
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