MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) - Moscow Regional Prosecutor Alexander Mokhov and his first deputy Alexander Ignatenko were relieved of their duties for the period of the investigation of media reports claiming prosecutors' patronage of illegal gaming business, Prosecutor General's Office spokesperson Marina Gridneva told Interfax on Monday.
"The Russian Prosecutor General's Office is holding an investigation in connection with the media accusations against certain officers of the Moscow Regional Prosecutor's Office," she said.
Mokhov, Ignatenko "and some other officers of the Moscow Regional Prosecutor's Office were relieved of duties for the period of the investigation," she said.
It was reported earlier that illegal gambling parlors were exposed in 15 towns in the Moscow region. Detectives think that they operated under the umbrella of regional law enforcers, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said on February 14.
Around 1,200 slot machines, accounting and financial documents and over 60 stamps of flight-by-night companies were seized.
"Monthly incomes from the criminal activity ranged from 5 to 10 million U.S. dollars. The criminal activity was carried out for more than three years, and it could not be carried out without the support of law enforcement and oversight agencies. Investigation proved this," the FSB reported.
Photo and video materials "prove stable links between high-ranking officers of the Moscow region prosecutor's office and representatives of the gambling business."
Investigators also found documents that prove that suspects paid for foreign tourist travels of the Moscow region prosecutor and other high-ranking prosecutors.
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax on February 16 that the committee started a new criminal case into illegal gambling in the Moscow region and detained three Moscow region police officers and three other suspects.
"The criminal investigation was prompted by the surrender of a member of a criminal group illegally organizing games of chance," he said.
"The man who turned himself in to the Moscow Regional Investigative Department told investigators that the criminal group led by Nazarov had been engaged in illegally organizing gaming businesses and causing material damage to people for two years," Markin said.