Corruption scandal rocks Putin's military logistics network
The Investigative Committee of Russia announced the findings of its investigation into corruption within the Russian army on Tuesday. It was disclosed that numerous properties belonging to the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation were misappropriated through manipulated tenders and bribery.
Russian investigators discovered the theft of 24 properties in Moscow valued at over 700 million roubles, roughly equating to £5.8 million.
The Investigative Committee stated that false tenders were employed during the bankruptcy proceedings of the Moscow Region Construction Administration. The case implicates Alexei Astashkin, a former bankruptcy trustee of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, and Nikolai Grachev, former head of the Russian military logistics department.
"Earlier, the Investigative Committee reported that the same defendants were involved in the misappropriation of 15 defence ministry properties in Balashikha, totalling 244 million roubles. Grachev and Astashkin have been detained," writes "Rz." Businessman Sergei Ovchinnikov, alleged to be the mastermind behind the operation, is being sought.
Corruption a problem for Putin's military
Additional cases are connected to corruption within the Russian army. On Monday, Major General Mirza Mirzayev, the deputy head of logistics for the Russian National Guard, was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe.
According to the 'Mash' channel, Mirzayev demanded 140 million roubles (£1.2 million) from a supplier of prefabricated building modules and threatened to terminate a contract worth 480 million roubles.
The newspaper notes that Russian media reports many bribery scandals in Vladimir Putin's military, with losses calculated in millions of roubles.
