MOSCOW, September 23 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – A criminal case against former chief executive of TMK (Pacific Bridge Building Company), a contractor in the Vostochny Cosmodrome project, Viktor Grebnev who stands charged with embezzlement, has reached  court, local Prosecutor’s Office announced on Friday.

The case is going to be reviewed by the Primorsky Territory Court in Vladivostok.

According to investigators, from 2012 to the fall of 2014, Grebnev knowingly signed contracts of guarantee that were unprofitable for TMK, thereby embezzling over 288 million rubles ($4.4 million). He also signed several contracts that caused TMK over 130 million rubles ($1.9 million) in losses.

In February, the Commercial Court of the Primorsky Territory declared Grebnev bankrupt.

Earlier, TMK said it failed to pay 96 million rubles ($1.5 million) in wages to workers because of the alleged embezzlement. Investigators claim that Grebnev used the money to buy yachts and a mansion.

In February 2015, the Federal Service of Labor and Employment revealed the failure to distribute over 30.5 million rubles ($462,000) to 1,262 TMK employees working at the cosmodrome. Also, in December 2014, the company was ordered to pay over 61 million rubles ($925,400) of the debt to its staff.

The construction of the space center, due to become Russia's main launch site, began in 2012. The facility is planned to be completed in 2016.