UPDATE 2: Russian Post submitted no data on head’s bonus to law enforcers

(Adds details in paragraphs 5–7)

MOSCOW, Dec 9 (PRIME) -- Russian Post has denied reports about searches and seizures of documents at its Moscow office and has said that it transferred all the documents requested by the law enforcement authorities and which were not related to its CEO Dmitry Strashnov’s bonus, on Wednesday, the company said in a statement on Friday.

“The information about searches in the central office of Russian Post is incorrect. On December 7, employees of Russian Post submitted documents to law enforcement authorities on their request within working cooperation. The materials under question are not related to payments of bonuses and premiums to the company management,” the statement read.

A source in law enforcement authorities told PRIME that they seized documents from the central office of Russian Post in Moscow due to unknown reasons, while another source said that the seizure was carried out under an investigation of a multi–million ruble bonus of Russian Post’s head Dmitry Shtrashnov.

Another source said that the authorities seized not only documents on Strashnov, but also on several other top managers of the company.

Alexander Kurennoi, an official representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office, said that prosecutors still think that Starshnov’s bonus was calculated incorrectly. “This is not just our opinion, as we’ve attracted specialists from other authorities for consideration of this situation, including specialists from the financial bloc,” he said.

Prosecutors have submitted all the relevant data to the Investigative Committee, he said.

But Strashnov will not be arrested. “We are not talking about punishment connected with deprivation of liberty here, it will more likely be an administrative punishment, but it is for the Investigative Committee to decide,” he said.

The prosecutor’s office said on November 25 that it wants to initiate a criminal case against Strashnov and two heads of the communications ministry’s departments on an allegedly illegal payment of the 95.4 million ruble bonus. The ministry approved the bonus in June 2015 on results of work of Russian Post for 2014. The amount was calculated on the basis of documents submitted by the company, including a statement on a net profit of 1.2 billion rubles.

The prosecutors’ investigation revealed that the net profit had been formed thanks to a 5.4 billion rubles financing of the company’s activities from the budget, which made it possible to cover losses of Russian Post, which exceeded 4 billion rubles.

(63.3901 rubles – U.S. $1)

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