MOSCOW, October 5 - RAPSI. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has found the arrests of Ivan Nazarov and two other individuals suspected of involvement in an underground gambling business in the Moscow Oblast illegal, Kommersant daily reported on Friday.

News of the illicit casino network in the Moscow Oblast came to light in the spring of 2011 and caused a major public uproar after it was reported by the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Businessman Ivan Nazarov allegedly operated illegal casinos in 15 towns across the oblast. According to law enforcement authorities, several high-ranking officials from the prosecutor's office and the Interior Ministry were involved in the operation, which generated 5-10 million dollars in monthly revenue.

Ten law enforcement officers were detained as part of the gambling scandal, including former Noginsk, Odintsovsky and Serpukhovsky District's prosecutors. Deputy Moscow Oblast Prosecutor Alexander Ignatenko was the most high-ranking of the suspects. He was arrested on January 1 at the Zakopane ski resort. In February, the Polish court ruled that his extradition was permissible and extended his custody until June 9. An appeals court upheld the judgment in March. The Nowy Sacz District Court then extended his arrest until October 9. The issue of his extradition is currently being resolved. On Friday, a Polish court will consider extending Ignatenkos temporary arrest further.

The newspaper adds that in August-September this year, Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Grin filed an application with the Supreme Court which claimed that arrests of Ivan Nazarov and his partners Marat Mamyev and Alla Guseva were illegal.

All three were detained and then arrested by the Pushkinsky City Court at the instigation of the Investigative Committee in February-March 2011. Initially, Nazarov, Mamyev and Guseva were charged with a large-scale fraud, committed by an organized group. But then their charges were changed to illegal entrepreneurship. Since these charges do not stipulate arrests, Grin demanded that measures of restraint previously applied to entrepreneurs be reconsidered.

"The Moscow City Court submitted supervisory statements to the Moscow City Court's presidium which upheld them and recognized the detention of the individuals until their release in June 10, 2011 as illegal," the newspaper reports.

It has also become known that Grin filed an appeal against the Basmanny Court's ruling to arrest Oleg Sudakov in July 2011; the deputy prosecutor general believes that there were no grounds for his arrest.