Feature

Former St. Petersburg official faces corruption charges over stadium

Russia

Marat Oganesyan, former deputy governor of St. Petersburg, has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling millions of rubles on a contract to supply screens for a new stadium in the Russian city.

Zenit Arena is being constructed for the country’s hosting of the 2018 Fifa World Cup national football team tournament, but work has been delayed by a series of setbacks.

Oganesyan’s arrest could further hamper progress at Zenit Arena, with investigators reportedly suggesting that the contract could form part of a larger corruption case, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Investigators claim Oganesyan handed the screen contract to a subcontractor and funnelled money out of shell companies, embezzling 50 million rubles (€719,000/$770,000/£617,800) in the process. An official in the St. Petersburg city hall, as well as three employees of the subcontractor, are also under investigation.

Igor Albin, current deputy governor of St. Petersburg, said on his official Twitter account that “the total sum of damages at the stadium exceeds 700 million rubles”.

In response to the probe, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, said that construction of infrastructure for the 2018 World Cup will now be under tighter scrutiny.

According to the TASS agency, Mutko said: “It is naturally very bad for the whole process of our already long-under construction stadium.

“All those involved in this process need to understand, that very strict policing of budget spending is being carried out during the construction of all infrastructure for the World Cup 2018. That also applies to Zenit Arena. If someone commits some kind of forgery or embezzlement, then of course, these people will be punished.

“But this business has no relation to the current stage of the stadium’s construction. There is a new team there, a new general contractor.”
 
 

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