MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) - Moscow's Lefortovo District Court has ruled to grant the investigation's request on sanctioning the arrest of Dagestani Deputy Prime Minister Magomedgusen Nasrutdinov suspected of fraud during the privatization of local gas networks in the early 2000s, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courthouse.
Kommersant reported earlier that Nasrutdinov had been detained at Moscow's Vnukovo airport upon his arrival from Makhachkala on Sunday evening. He refused to be questioned, referring to Article 51 of the Russian Constitution guaranteeing that no one can be obliged to testify against themselves or their close relatives.
The criminal case against Nasrutdinov on charges of major fraud (Russian Criminal Code Article 159, Part 2) was opened half a year ago, Kommersant reports.
Investigators found out that, as Dagestanregiongaz general director and Daggaz board chairman in 2002, Nasrutdinov arranged a deal between these two companies, being at the same time a shareholder in Daggaz. Under this contract, Daggaz acquired gas network assets with a total length of over 1 million running meters belonging previously to nine municipalities in the Buinaksk, Kizlyar, Levashi and other districts of Dagestan for 58 million rubles, the newspaper reported.
The law enforcement authorities believe the market price of the misappropriated assets was 197.73 million rubles at the time, it reported.
According to the information possessed by the investigation, in 2013 Nasrutdinov proposed that Gazprom (MOEX: GAZP) affiliates buy back the said gas networks for 5 billion rubles, which actually triggered a new investigation, Kommersant reported.
Gazprom refrained from providing comments on the matter to Kommersant.
The press service of the head of Dagestan said to the newspaper it did not possess official information on Nasrutdinov's case.