An official of the scandal-ridden MMM investment company denied Wednesday a report that its president, Sergei Mavrodi, would resign, despite a legal interpretation that the newly elected member of the State Duma was required to do so.


Interfax quoted "sources close to Mavrodi's election campaign" Tuesday as saying that he was planning to step down as MMM president leaving his brother Vyacheslav to take over the position following his victory in a Sunday by-election in a Moscow suburb.


Sergei Taranov, an MMM spokesman, dismissed the report Wednesday as a "complete lie from beginning to the end," and said that Mavrodi was firm in his decision to remain the company's president. Asked about any legal requirements preventing a Duma member from running a company, Taranov said a statement would be issued Thursday.


Yury Sorokin, deputy chairman of the Interrepublican Lawyers' Bar, which is an association of Russian advocates, said Mavrodi could not be both.


"A Duma deputy can only be a Duma deputy and nothing else," he said. He quoted the regulation On the State Duma Deputies to back this.


He said the Central Election Committee sent a letter to all deputies early this year ordering them to quit their jobs.


Sorokin also referred to a 1992 presidential decree which he said prohibited anyone holding a position of government power from being involved in business activities. If a deputy did so, he said, they would be relieved of their duties.