MOSCOW, January 27 (RAPSI) – Investigation into Vyacheslav Gaizer, former head of Russia’s Komi Republic who stands charged with fraud and organized crime related violations, has been completed, the Investigative Committee’s press service told RAPSI on Friday.

Investigators also completed inquiry directed against 15 other defendants in the case. Depending on their role in the committed crimes they are charged with organizing and participation in a gang, fraud, money laundering, bribery. Defendants began reading case materials.

According to the Investigative Committee’s press service, two accused persons have pleaded guilty.

Earlier, the Investigative Committee reported about thwarting the activity of a criminal group led by the head of the Republic of Komi, Vyacheslav Gaizer.

Gaizer’s deputy Alexey Chernov, Igor Kovzel, Chairman of the Republican State Council, and Konstantin Romadanov, Deputy Chairman of the Komi government are named among the defendants. In August 2016, one of the people related to the case, Anton Faerstein, died in detention.

Gaizer pleads not guilty. Several high-ranking officials have been arrested in the fraud and organized crime case, as well as several business people that the Investigative Committee called “finance technologists.”

During 80 searches in Komi, St. Petersburg and Moscow, the Investigative Committee and the Federal Security Service confiscated over 60 kg of jewelry, 150 watches worth $30,000 to $1 million each, over 50 stamps and seals from offshore corporations, and financial documents legalizing over 1 billion rubles ($14 mln) in stolen money transferred to the offshore zone.

Investigators have also opened against Gaizer a criminal case on money laundering.

On September 30, 2015, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to relieve Gaizer of his duties because of loss of trust.