Penza, 24 October 2017. PenzaNews. Workers of the law enforcement authorities detained Veniamin Bochkarev, nephew of Vasily Bochkarev, former regional governor who had headed the region during 18 years – from 1998 to 2015. This was reported by a source close to the government who asked to remain anonymous.

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"Veniamin Viktorovich Bochkarev was arrested recently, on October 23, within Art. 91 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation ['Grounds for the Detention of the Suspect']. At the moment, the case is studied by the Investigation Committee. I believe an official statement will be made in the near future," the interlocutor said.

The press service of the regional investigation department under the regional Investigative Committee of Russia refused to give comments about detention of the Penza ex-governor's nephew.

Until December 2015, Veniamin Bochkarev was a general director of the Penza Region Mortgage Lending Agency established at the end of 2003. He was last elected to the post on December 3, 2013.

Veniamin Bochkarev was followed by Evgeny Ryzhkov, who from January 1999 to April 2015 had been in charge of land and construction issues occupying the post of deputy head of the Penza administration.

According to available data, during 2013-2015 when the organization was headed by the ex-governor's nephew, the Penza Region Mortgage Lending Agency carried out so-called non-transparent schemes of financial assets' flow.

In particular, the agency was responsible for construction of the housing estate "Chistye Prudy" in the Mokshan area, which was built within the programme "Housing for Russian Family". As a result of the activities carried out by the management, some of the building were not built and the people who had bought property in the housing estate had to live in a field without any infrastructure.