UPDATE: Prosecutors want criminal case opened against Russian Post CEO

(Adds comments from investigators, ministry in paragraph 8–10)

MOSCOW, Nov 25 (PRIME) -- The Prosecutor General’s Office wants a criminal case initiated against General Director of Russian Post Dmitry Strashnov against him and two directors of the communications ministry’s departments on an allegedly illegal payment of a 95.4 million ruble bonus to Strashnov, the prosecutor office’s press secretary Alexander Kurennoi said Friday.

Prosecutors revealed the alleged misconduct during a check of compliance with the federal law by the Communications and Mass Media Ministry and the entities it controls, Kurennoi said.

The ministry approved the bonus in June 2015 on results of work of Russian Post, a national postal operator, 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, earned in the reported period.

“However, the investigation carried out by the prosecutors with specialists showed that the indicated amount of the net profit had been formed thanks to complete financing of its activities from the federal budget to the amount of 5.4 billion rubles, which made it possible to cover losses of Russian Post, which exceeded 4 billion rubles,” the prosecutors said.

“By many indicators of operations, the company failed to reach the projected levels, and some parameters worsened in comparison with the previous year. For example, the indicator of investment in the company’s development was fulfilled only by 57%.”

In view of the mentioned circumstances and average salary in the company in 2014, the bonus should be at 3.2 million rubles.

All the materials were submitted to the Investigative Committee. The two directors of the ministry’s departments were involved, because they had endorsed the bonus.

“The Investigative Committee has not received the mentioned documents yet. As soon as we get them, the materials will be studied duly, and a procedural decision will be made,” a spokesperson for the committee said.

Yekaterina Osadchaya, a spokeswoman for the Communications and Mass Media Ministry, said the authority disagrees with the prosecutors’ reasons.

“We’ve received the warrant from the Prosecutor General’s Office. We’ll examine it and prepare a response regarding the remuneration to General Director of Russian Post Dmitry Strashnov...We’ll respond next week,” Osadchaya said.

A Russian Post employee said Strashnov is not in Moscow at the moment. No further comment was provided.

(64.6279 rubles – U.S. $1)

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