Police Search Offices in Moskva Hotel Probe
- By Unknown
- Jun. 17 2009 00:00
The Moskva Hotel, located between the State Duma and the Kremlin, was demolished on City Hall's orders in 2004.
A lucrative contract to rebuild the Moskva was won by the obscure U.S.-registered Decorum company, owned by Liechtenstein-registered Hypo Investment Bank, which formed a joint venture with City Hall called Decmos.
Investigators opened a criminal case on June 1 into the embezzlement of $87.5 million that belonged to city-owned OEK-Finans by unidentified people, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Dudukina told Interfax.
City authorities had paid $87.5 million to Deutsche Bank as part of Decorum's debt, but unidentified people managed to use the money to repay a bank loan that they owed, Interfax reported, citing case materials.
A senior Interior Ministry official told RIA-Novosti that investigators on Monday searched the Romanov Dvor and Daev Plaza business centers.
The Romanov Dvor administration denied that a search had taken place in the business center, saying there was only a routine check of one of the tenants, Gazeta.ru reported.
The Interior Ministry said a total of three offices were searched in the two business centers, Interfax reported.