Russian deputy defense ministry official suspected of 65m rbl theft

Director of the Defense Ministry's economic department Yevgeny Turnin and his deputy Nikolai Butorov are suspected of involvement in the theft of more than 65 million roubles, allocated for a boarding school for female cadets, the press service of the main military prosecutor's office /GVP/ told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. "A check of a contract for maintenance of the premises and rooms of the Boarding School for Defense Ministry Students, Moscow Cadet Corps, exposed fraudulent actions by director of the Ministry's Economic Department Yevgeny Trunin, his deputy Nikolai Butorov, director general of the Security and Communications private company Alexander Yelkin and a number of boarding school administration officials. Military prosecutors said the suspects "deliberately overstated the size of the maintenance area inside the building by more than 2,000 square meters and school premises by 14,000 square meters. "As a result of these illegitimate actions, more than 65 million roubles were stolen from the state. Criminal proceedings were opened under Article 159, Part 4 /fraud/ of Russia's penal code. Military prosecutors are taking measures to recover the damage.