MOSCOW, October 2 (RAPSI) - Andrey Levchenko, lawmaker of the Irkutsk Region Legislative Assembly and son of a former regional Governor, on Thursday challenged his detention in a 185 million-ruble embezzlement case ($2.5 million), defense lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky told RAPSI.

On Monday, the defendant was transported to Moscow and charged with embezzlement. Searches were conducted at his place of residence, office and at premises of his father Sergey Levchenko. On Tuesday, he was put in detention until November 20,

The official pleaded not guilty.

According to investigators, Levchenko’s involvement in the crime was established as part of a criminal case against CEO of Zvezda company. Allegedly, Oleg Khamulyak along with other persons in October 2017 filed forged documents with the regional Ministry of the procurement contractual regulation to the applications for participating in a capital repair contractor tender. Later, Khamulyak and Levchenko signed a 167 million-ruble lift equipment supply contract with a foreign company and submitted it to the regional overhaul fund in order to receive advance in accordance with the concluded agreements.

Then the defendants created one more company through which they unfoundedly increased the sum of repair works to nearly 3.2 million rubles and continued sending overpriced equipment cost documents to the repair fund. In total, they stole over 185 million rubles, the Investigative Committee’s statement reads.

In mid-August, Moscow’s Basmanny District Court extended house arrest of Khamulyak until October 20.