Russian investigators start criminal case vs VIM-Avia owner

MOSCOW, Dec 12 (PRIME) -- Russian investigators have initiated a criminal case against an owner of defunct airline VIM-Avia Rashid Mursekayev, spokeswoman for the Investigative Committee Svetlana Petrenko said on Tuesday.

“An investigation of a criminal case concerning misappropriation of passengers’ money by employees of airline VIM-Avia continues. A criminal case was initiated against an owner of the airline and co-President Rashid Mursekayev, former CEO Alexander Kochnev, former First Deputy CEO and CFO Alevtina Kalashnikova and Chief Accountant Yekaterina Panteleyeva due to detection of new traces of illegal activities,” Petrenko said.

The criminal cases were united in a single proceeding, the executives and Mursekayev have been accused of abusing power.

“In fact, VIM-Avia chaired by Mursekayev was a pyramid scheme,” Petrenko said. She said that Mursekayev and his wife received 162 million rubles in salaries and dividends from May 2015 till September 2017, while the losses of the company totaled more than 2.5 billion rubles by September.

(59.2348 rubles – U.S. $1)

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