Ex-finance minister of Moscow arrested in southern France

Police of the town of Toulon in southern France arrested the former finance minister of the Moscow region, Alexey Kuznetsov, in the outskirts of San Trope at Cote d’Azur, last Friday, French law enforcers said on Saturday. Agence France Press reports that the Russian ex-official has been on Interpol’s wanted list since November 2012. Earlier, Russian law enforcers told Itar-Tass that Alexey Kuzentsov, 50, had been detained in southern France and was pending extradition. He is suspected of committing offences in the housing and utilities sector of the Moscow region and causing damage worth over 3.5 billion rubles to the regional budget. Alexey Kuznetsov had been the first deputy prime minister and the finance minister of the Moscow region before 2008. He stepped down on his own free will. Later, Boris Gromov, who was then the governor of the Moscow region, explained that Kuznetsov had resigned because of dual citizenship. According to unofficial reports, Kuznetsov emigrated to the United States where his family was residing at that time. Acting Governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov said on Saturday that he hoped to compensate the damage to the regional budget caused by Kuznetsov.