MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax) - Head of the Russian Interior Ministry's Investigative Department Yury Alexeyev has been relieved of his duties due to the issues in organizing the work of investigators, a source familiar with the matter told Interfax.
"This dismissal is related to the issues in organizing the work of investigators," the source said.
Head of the Interior Ministry Main Department's main investigative directorate for Moscow, Vladimir Morozov, tendered his resignation in January, the source said.
"No one has taken up responsibility for the work of subordinates in the Interior Ministry," the source said.
According to the information of the Kommersant newspaper, the resignation of Morozov could be related to a number of scandals, one of which occurred in mid-January, when officers of the Russian Investigative Committee and the Federal Security Service (FSB) detained major case investigator of the Interior Ministry Main Department's main investigative directorate for Moscow, Aleksander Sidorov, and Moscow lawyer Olga Arkhipova upon receiving 15 million rubles. For this sum the investigator allegedly promised to soften restrictions imposed on one of the suspects in a fraud case, who extorted money from pensioners pretending to be psychic-healers. The arrest of Sidorov led to the dismissal of several employees, who were part of the group probing this case. While the Interior Ministry said it promised to punish the immediate superiors of the suspect.
Morozov's predecessor Ivan Glukhov resigned in 2012 following a corruption-related scandal concerning the arrest of major case investigator Nelli Dmitriyeva accused of bribery, the Kommersant daily reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued an order to relieve Deputy Interior Minister - Head of the Interior Ministry's Investigative Department Major General Yury Alexeyev of his duties, the Kremlin press service has said.