Penza, 16 February 2016. PenzaNews. The arrest of Alexander Pashkov, former Penza mayor and ex-deputy chairman of the regional government, has been extended to April 10, Sergei Maslov, press secretary of the Penza Pervomaisky area court, informed PenzaNews agency.

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As PenzaNews reported earlier, on 20 December 2015, the media reported that the former Penza mayor and ex-deputy chairman of the regional government Alexander Pashkov has been arrested by the FSB in Moscow.

On December 21, Sergei Maslov, press secretary of the Pervomaisky area court, announced that Alexander Pashkov, who is suspected of committing a crime that falls under Part 4, Art. 159 of the Criminal Code (“Fraud”), was arrested for 2 months.

According to unconfirmed information, Alexander Pashkov is accused of large-scale fraud during the construction of the perinatal center. As of currently, the Penza region Investigative Committee issued has issued no comment on Alexander Pashkov’s arrest or the charges against him.

On December 28, during the meeting with heads and editors-in-chief of the Penza region media, the governor Ivan Belozertsev expressed his belief that the law enforcement will find out every detail in the case of fraud during the construction of the perinatal center and provide a qualified evaluation of the activities of Alexander Pashkov. He also assured that “the sum that somehow ended on other bank accounts [...] will be returned by the investigative authorities, the court and the prosecutor’s office, and directed to the perinatal center construction and equipment procurement.”

Discussing the personality of Alexander Pashkov, the head of the region said he cannot understand how the man managed to “get there” in the perinatal center construction project. Alongside that, Ivan Belozertsev expressed his belief that “the authorities must do everything to stave such people away from such projects.”

On February 11, the prosecutor of the Penza region Natalya Kantserova during the extended meeting of the body reported that nearly 200 million rubles of budget money has been embezzled through transfers to shell corporations and subsequent cashout during the construction of the Penza perinatal center. As she pointed out, the crime damaged not only the budget, but the subcontractors who did not receive the money for their work.

On the same day, the Penza Pervomaisky area court extended Alexander Pashkov’s arrest to April 10.