ST. PETERSBURG, July 11 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – A case against the former vice-governor of St. Petersburg Marat Oganesyan, accused of fraudulently embezzling funds allocated for the construction of the city’s Arena football stadium and bribery, has reached court, the United press service of St. Petersburg courts reported to RAPSI.

The trial will be held in the Kuybyshev District Court of St. Petersburg.

According to case files, the Investigative Committee’s Main Investigation Department in collaboration with the Federal Security Service (FSB) and police  established the fact of embezzlement of funds in the amount of more than 50 million rubles (about $800,000) when the general contractor Transstroy and Theater and Decorative Workshops company entered into a contract on supply of a video board of a football stadium in 2014. Oganesyan was responsible for the construction of the stadium.

Investigators claim that Oganesyan ensured illegal involvement of Theater and Decorative Workshops as a subcontractor and transferred from the city budget a prepaid expense of more than 50 million rubles to the enterprise. Later, the money was subsequently stolen through sham firms.

It was found during the investigation that Oganesyan had received at least 28 million rubles in the deal, what was adjudged to be a bribe.

General Director of the Alexandrinsky Theater Grigory Popov has allegedly received 22 million rubles. He is thought to be a real mentor of Theater and Decorative Workshops.

These two cases were consolidated.

Vasily Slivkin, the director of StroyElektroMontazh-5, a company that participated in the construction of the St. Petersburg Arena football stadium, is also involved in the case. He is charged with giving Oganesyan 20 million rubles as ensuring a contract for installing illumination and outdoor highlighting of the stadium.