MOSCOW, November 2 (RAPSI) – One of the defendants in a fraud case involving former head of Russia’s Komi Republic Vyacheslav Gaizer, has testified against Yevgeny Olkhovik, a co-owner of a top Russian group of companies Renova and Boris Vaynzikher, the CEO of T Plus Company, a subsidiary of Renova, RAPSI reported from the Basmanny District Court on Wednesday.
Vaynzikher and Olkhovik are charged with passing a bribe in the amount of more than 88 million rubles (approximately $1.4 million) to a person whose identity investigators do not disclose, their lawyers said earlier.
The court on Tuesday asked the Investigative Committee to provide additional evidence of guilt with regard to Olkhovik and Vaynzikher. On Wednesday, a record of questioning financier Demyan Moskvin was presented to the court. Investigators took into account his testimony when opened the case.
According to the defense, the record of interrogation does not contain families of the defendants and cannot prove the guilt of Olkhovik and Vaynzikher.
Investigative authorities in Russia’s Republic of Komi have initiated a criminal case against some former and acting managers of Kompleksnye Energeticheskiye Sistemy (KES) company, of which T Plus is the legal successor, on suspicion of large-scale bribery. At that time the offices of the company’s parent holding Renova were also raided.
Three men holding CEO posts in the KES at different time, Mikhail Slobodin, Yevgeny Olkhovik, and Boris Vaynzikher are involved in the case. Vaynzikher and Olkhovik are currently in detention.
Investigators believe that in 2007 through 2014 the suspects bribed officials currently involved in the criminal case against the Republic’s ex-head Vyacheslav Gaizer with money and other assets.
Gaizer is a witness in this case.