During the investigation of the case against former Finance Minister of the Moscow Region Government, Alexei Kuznetsov, Interior Ministry officers returned the stolen assets worth of 25 billion rubles to the State. The assets were as follows: movie theaters, shopping centers, land plots and apartments in the Moscow region. According to investigators, in total, 30 billion rubles had been stolen from the budget.

"As a result of activities undertaken, the arbitral tribunal of the Moscow region approved the settlement agreement on the transfer of state securities (stocks and bonds), shares in the authorized capital of commercial organizations, and non-payers' debts", employees of the Department of Economic Security (DES), MIA informed. Operational-investigative actions had been carried out in a criminal case of fraud against Alexei Kuznetsov, and former Deputy Finance Minister of the Moscow Region Government, Valery Nosov and the American Zhanna Bulok and Dmitry Kotlyarenko.

The case is connected with the Moscow Regional Investment Trust Company (MOITK), the main activity of which had been investing in social projects of the Moscow region, and the only shareholder was the Government of Moscow Region. That property of MOITK, according to investigators, was stolen. "It is established that Kuznetsov and Nosov, using their official powers, had been drawing the budget funds by transferring assets of MOITK in businesses controlled by Kuznetsov’ wife - Zhanna Bulok", the interior ministry officers said. According to the DES, currently Valery Nosov is arrested, Alexei Kuznetsov and Zhanna Bulok are put on the international wanted list, Dmitry Kotlyarenko is attempted to extradite from the Republic of Cyprus.

Let us recall that the investigation of those high-profile criminal cases started in the end of 2008 by identifying the theft of 600 million rubles in the Pushkin District, Moscow Region; it was allocated to the regional government to the needs of utilities. According to investigators, the essence of frauds, discovered not only in Pushkin, but nearly in a dozen of other areas of the suburbs, was as follows: Since 2006, the municipal unitary enterprises have started to create artificial debts of the Moscow Region Government for allegedly performed the work in the field of public utilities. Then, those unitary enterprises assigned the right to claim debts to fly-by-night firms, to whom the government of Moscow region paid on fictitious debts. The organizer of the crime is believed to be Alexei Kuznetsov, who has spearheaded the formation of MOITK (On September 29, 2009 - Arbitration Court declared the company bankrupt).

Source: Kommersant-Online, 21.10.2010