MOSCOW, June 12 (RAPSI) – A court in Yaroslavl on Thursday found the former mayor of Pereslavl-Zalessky Denis Koshurnikov guilty of negligence as part of the Rusnano state corporation embezzlement case but released him from punishment because of the expiry of the statute of limitations, his attorney Alexander Zakharyin told RAPSI.

The Zavolzhsky Court fined Koshurnikov 100,000 rubles ($1,600) but freed him because the defendant was held in detention and then under house arrest, the lawyer said. Moreover, reclassified charges from abuse of office to negligence.

According to case papers, Rusnano invested over one billion rubles in the construction of NTpharma pharmaceutical complex in Pereslavl-Zalessky, 150 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of Moscow, since 2010. The object had to be completed in September 2012, but the project company repeatedly rescheduled the facility commissioning.

Investigators found that the pharmaceutical complex was not built, however, the funds allocated by Rusnano were embezzled.

Investigators believe that in 2011 NTpharma top managers Rustam Ataullakhanov and Yevgeny Sultanov purchased a land plot from a firm belonging to Koshurnikov to give the appearance of handling of work on the project realization.

As the acquired plot is located within the national park Pleshcheevo, permit issuing for the construction was inadmissible. However, Koshurnikov, then head of Pereslavl region, gave such permit.