MOSCOW, May 31 (RAPSI, Nikita Shiryayev) – Moscow’s Babushkinsky District Court on Friday refused to annul a ruling whereby a wanted notice was issued for Chairman of Tretyakov & Partners law firm Igor Tretyakov as part of the 330-million-ruble (about $5 million) Roscosmos embezzlement case, RAPSI reported from the courtroom.

The lawyer’s appeal to declare the order allegedly made with material breaches of the Criminal Procedure Code’s provisions illegal was dismissed. 

According to Tretyakov’s attorney Stanislav Shostak, the defendant was not notified by law enforcement that a criminal case had been opened against him. Moreover, investigators violated the procedure of searches in his apartment and office, the defense lawyer said in court. The searches were conducted without representatives of a law chamber, Shostak added.

Tretyakov’s attorney insists that it is necessary to vacate the wanted notice as it is usually considered by courts as an aggravating circumstance.

Tretyakov is a defendant in the case over embezzling 330 million rubles from Roscosmos. His detention was recently extended until June 19. Two other defendants, ex-CEO of the S.A. Lavochkin Scientific Union Sergey Lemeshevsky and chief of the Union’s legal department Yekaterina Averyanova are also detained.

According to investigators, the defendants have stolen assets of Roscosmos by signing fraudulent contracts for provision of legal services with the law firm. All the works were allegedly performed by the corporation’s own specialists. The overall sum of payments to the firm reached 330 million rubles.