MOSCOW -- Officers of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) have detained the former prefect of Moscow’s Northern Administrative Precinct, Oleg Mitvol, as he tried to leave Russia on a flight from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport.
The central district court in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk said on June 10 that it ruled to place Mitvol, who once served as deputy director of Russia’s environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor in pretrial detention at least until July 24 on a charge of "fraud on an especially large scale."
Hours before the court's announcement, local media reports said FSB officers detained Mitvol on June 8.
Mitvol's aide told the Interfax news agency that Mitvol was detained at a Moscow airport while he and his family about to head to Turkey for a vacation. She added that the court's ruling to place Mitvol in pretrial detention will be appealed.
The reports cited sources as saying that Mitvol, who is currently the chairman of the board of directors of the Krasnoyarsk Engineering and Construction Innovations group, is suspected of illegally appropriating 900 million rubles ($15.3 million) allocated by the federal government for the construction of subway in Krasnoyarsk.
