14 May 2004 10:22
Russian governor calls criminal case against him "politically motivated"
Saratov, 14 May: On Thursday [13 May] the prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against the governor of
Saratov Region, Dmitriy Ayatskov, under part 3 of article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, relating
to "abuse of office". The prosecutor of Saratov Region, Anatoliy Bondar, informed journalists of this on
Friday [14 May].
Bondar specified that proceedings had been instituted in connection with an illegal directive to settle a debt of
R70m owed to the Saratov customs for duty payable on Case combines which arrived in the region from abroad in 1998 and
which subsequently came into the possession of Agroton, a private firm.
This directive was deemed illegal by the region's arbitration court and by the district court in Kazan, the
prosecutor recalled.
The governor has not yet been charged, but the legality of other enactments signed by the governor and issued by the
regional administration will be examined during the investigation of the criminal case, Bondar noted.
Dmitriy Ayatskov believes that the actions of the prosecutor's office are politically motivated and linked,
first and foremost, with the approaching gubernatorial elections in the region.
"I reckon this has been politically orchestrated ahead of the gubernatorial election, which is scheduled for
April 2005," Ayatskov told journalists on Friday.
He explained that on Thursday he received a summons to attend questioning as a suspect in criminal case No 18087
relating to the purchase of a consignment of Case combines. The criminal proceedings were instituted two years ago
against the present speaker of the regional parliament, Sergey Shuvalov, who was then deputy governor.
"The Shuvalov case collapsed. Now a new escalation of the political scandal is needed. So, the prosecutor's
people are seeing if they are strong enough to prevent the nomination of the governor," Ayatskov is convinced.
At the same time the governor recalled that the investigation into the purchase of the combines had not revealed
evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
[Interfax news agency] |
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