MOSCOW, August 12 (RAPSI) – A court in Odintsovo town near Moscow on Wednesday forfeited immovable assets in the amount of more than 1 billion rubles (about $14 million) belonging to ex-head of the Moscow Region’s Serpukhov District Alexander Shestun, RAPSI was told in the court.

A lawsuit to forfeit assets of assets and other codefendants has been filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia. Along with Shestun there are other defendants in the claim, 25 individuals and 20 legal entities.

Shestun stands charged with fraud, money laundering, illegal business and receiving a large-scale bribe, the statement reads.

According to investigators, acting as a head of the Moscow Region’s Serpukhov District, from 2003 to 2018, Shestun created 43 commercial organizations through his trustees and ran them. Profits he used for purchasing municipal land plots at bargain prices.

Moreover, between 2008 and 2011, Shestun along with his business partners Boris Krivodubsky and Sergey Samsonov illegally acquired title to four land plots with an area of 10 hectares through affiliated firms and therefore caused damage worth over 64.5 million rubles to the budget. In total, the accomplices sold illegally acquired plots for 160 million rubles. Initially, they bought the land for 628, 000 rubles, case papers read.

The investigation obtained evidence of possession of assets worth about 3.2 billion rubles by Shestun, his business partners, their relatives and other individuals and legal entities.

Last April, the Krasnogorsk City Court in the Moscow Region forfeited 10-billion-ruble ($150 million) worth assets owned by Shestun to the state. The court therefore granted a motion lodged by the Prosecutor General’s Office to seize more than 670 real estate items in the Moscow Region’s Serpukhov district and 22 cars. This property status does not correspond to his income, prosecutors stated.