MOSCOW, February 13 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Basmanny District Court has extended the term of detention for ex-head of the Moscow Region’s Serpukhov District Alexander Shestun as part of a case over embezzlement and bribery until May 13, the court’s press service has told RAPSI.

The court on Tuesday also issued an arrest warrant for another defendant, businessman Sergey Samsonov, in absentia. He has been put on the international wanted list along with another alleged accomplice, ex-head of Bolshevik, a small town in the Moscow Region, Boris Krivodubsky.

A motion to arrest Krivodubsky in absentia will be considered on February 20.

Ex-official Shestun stands charged with embezzlement, taking bribes and abuse of office. The victim in the case is the Serpukhov District administration.

According to case papers, between 2008 and 2014, the Serpukhov District administration headed by Shestun illegally transferred four land plots in a local village to the company Center. Damage caused by these actions was estimated at 62 million rubles (about $925,000), investigators claim. Shestun was put in detention. He pleads not guilty.

In January, prosecutors filed a lawsuit to forfeit 10-billion-ruble ($150 million) assets owned by Shestun to the state.  This property status does not correspond to his income, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The former official is the owner of 676 real estate items in the Moscow Region’s Serpukhov district, 2 recreation facilities and 22 cars, prosecutors claim.

Shestun has registered his property in the name of his relatives or trustees to evade declaration and suppression of his actual material position. Some property items have been sold, and the funds received have been converted to his own use or the use of his cronies, according to the prosecution.

On January 18, the Investigative Committee reported that investigators received evidence that Shestun owned land plots worth 2.2 billion rubles ($33 million) aside from other assets found earlier.