Prosecutors launch case vs Avtodor CEO over road project stall

MOSCOW, Jul 4 (PRIME) -- The Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal case against the head of state highway operator Russian Highways, also known as Avtodor, for large-scale violations during construction of the Central Ring Road in the Moscow Region, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said on Thursday.

“A large number of violations were discovered during the audit of the Central Ring Road infrastructure project in the Moscow Region. A criminal case was initiated against the CEO of Avtodor state company,” Chaika said.

He did not mention the name of the suspect. Sergei Kelbakh was CEO of Avtodor until February, when he was replaced by Vyacheslav Petushenko.

In February, the Audit Chamber said that construction of the Central Ring Road was behind the schedule. Petushenko said there were no plans to delay the launch of the road yet, although there were such risks.

According to the Audit Chamber, as of December 1, 2018, construction readiness of the Central Ring Road ranged from 0% to 66%, which will not allow completion of work at sites No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 before the fourth quarter of 2020, and at site No. 4 – before the second quarter of 2021.

Auditors believe that last year, Avtodor showed the worst result in the 10 years of its existence, while spending almost 74.8 billion rubles allocated by the government. The company, according to the auditors, failed on 11 out of 12 targets.

Construction of the Central Ring Road started in 2014 and is to be completed by 2025.

(63.4951 rubles – U.S. $1)

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