MOSCOW, March 6 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Supreme Court has upheld embezzlement charges against the former member of the upper house of parliament Tuesday.
Levon Chakhmakhchyan, 54, an ex-senator from the Kalmykia Region in southern Russia, is accused of being part of an organized group that was involved in extorting funds from companies, including Russia's major airline Transaero, and "misappropriating property" worth $1.5 million, the Prosecutor General's Office earlier said.
In June, Federal security agents found $300,000 in cash, which had earlier been marked with a special ink, in the office of the chief accountant of the non-governmental organization, the Association of Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation, where Chakhmakhchyan presided.
Prosecutors said Chakhmakhchyan's "criminal group" also involved his son-in-law, Armen Oganesyan, who was an assistant auditor in the Russian Audit Chamber, and the chief accountant at the Association of the Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation.
After being allegedly caught up in the bribery scandal Chakhmakhchyan was dismissed from his post.
Moscow's Basmanny Court remanded the ex-senator in custody for two-months, adding that he could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. The judge allowed Chakhmakhchyan to remain in custody until February 1 for health reasons.
In December last year the Supreme Court agreed to launch criminal proceedings in absentia against the ex-senator. The former senator's defense Boris Kuznetsov appealed the decision, and the court convened Tuesday to review the case.
Recently Russia has been plagued by a series of corruption scandals involving senior governmental officials.
One of the most publicized scandals was the criminal case against Vladivostok mayor Vladimir Nikolayev, who has been allegedly involved in the illegal sale of land.
The former mayor of Tomsk in Siberia, Alexander Makarov, was one of the latest targets in a series of corruption probes. He suffered a heart attack at a meeting with law-enforcement officials, and is suspected, together with a relative, of extorting $114,000 from local residents by threatening to destroy their real estate and prevent them from rebuilding.
