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State Duma agrees to Ponomaryov’s arrest

The Major Investigations Directorate of the Russia’s Investigative Committee continues a probe against State Duma Deputy Ilya Ponomaryov charged with a crime under part 5 of article 33 and part 4 of article 160 of the RF Penal Code (complicity in embezzlement).

A court has earlier satisfied the request to arrest Ponomaryov in absentia. Now under the current low the State Duma has consented to the restraint. Ponomaryov is wanted worldwide.

Investigators revealed that, in 2010, Skolkovo foundation and Ponomaryov signed a contract on research activity worth 750 thousand USD. However, the money was stolen by Skolkovo Development and Commercialization Senior Vice President Alexey Beltyukov with complicity of Ilya Ponomaryov.

Whatever Ponomaryov claims, or will claim, it is an obvious banal crime, embezzlement. I think that any civilized constitutional state, wherever the runaway deputy goes, has to assist the Russia’s Investigative Committee and give him up to Russia for being prosecuted for an act of corruption.

I would like to remind that the investigation against Ponomaryov is one of many opened against deputies of the Federal Assembly over the past years. Membership in any political party or political views of the defendant has never mattered to investigators and will never do. For example, criminal cases against member of the Federation Council Konstantin Tsybko and deputy Vladimir Bessonov have been recently sent to court, there are ongoing investigations against deputies Oleg Mikheyev, Nikolai Parshin, ex-deputy Mikhail Glushchenko and some others. All of them are members of different political parties, but in addition to being deputies, they also have one thing in common, which is that being chosen by the people, they have broken the law and they are going to answer for that independent of the party they belong to or ideological views they have.

Head of Media Relations                                                                                                                                  V.I. Markin