MOSCOW. July 7 (Interfax) - Former First Deputy Director of the Russian National Guard Viktor Strigunov has been arrested in a criminal case over abuse of power and bribery, Russian Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said.
"Strigunov was detained in Moscow, and a restraining measure in the form of remand in custody was ordered for him," Petrenko told journalists on Monday.
The military investigators have opened a criminal case against Strigunov on counts of abuse of office and accepting large bribes, she said.
"Investigators said that a multi-million state contract was concluded between the Russian Interior Ministry and construction company Remstroytorg LLC for building a training center in the Kemerovo region. Strigunov was in charge of supervising the execution of the contract. In 2014, Strigunov, having information about the restrictions imposed on the use of the training center due to the discrepancy between the area of the allocated land plot and the insignificant distance from the airport, instructed subordinate officials to organize its construction," Petrenko said.
The terms of the contract failed to be fulfilled, and the training center was not put into operation, which resulted in large-scale property damage to the state exceeding 2 billion rubles, she added.
"Additionally, between 2012 and 2014, Strigunov accepted bribes from representatives of commercial organizations in the amount of over 66 million rubles for general patronage in the execution of multi-million state contracts for construction work," Petrenko said.
The Russian National Guard earlier said that Strigunov had been identified as a defendant in a criminal case following an internal inquiry. He was fired in 2023, the National Guard said.