The bank account of Yevgenia Vasilyeva, a chief suspect at the center of the Oboronservis investigation into the sale of state land at below market prices, has been frozen by Moscow's Khamovnichesky District Court, news reports said Friday.
While the exact amount of money involved was not disclosed, Vasilyeva's lawyer, Hasan-Ali Borokov, suggested that the development was not new and the bank account had actually been seized several weeks ago.
"This event did not take place today, yesterday, not this week or even this month. I cannot remember the precise date, but it was at the start of June or even the end of May," the lawyer told RIA Novosti.
Vasilyeva, former head of the Defense Ministry property relations department, is currently under house arrest until Sept. 23, when a court will decide what to do next.
Vasilyeva stands accused of having facilitated the sale of several Defense Ministry assets at well below market prices in exchange for payments from commercial partners. The Investigative Committee has prepared a case detailing 11 instances of fraud conducted through the Oboronservis agency, which was tasked with selling off unneeded Defense Ministry property.
Vasilyeva had served alongside former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as a director at Oboronservis.
The property involved is substantive, valued at 16 billion rubles ($500 million), and includes the Voyentorg and Soyuz hotels in Moscow, a warehouse complex in Odintsovo, an oil transshipment complex in Murmansk, a number of military facilities and a significant holding of land in the Krasnodar region. The loss of revenue to the state through these sales is estimated at 7.5 billion rubles ($237 million).
Earlier this year, authorities seized Vasilyeva's property holdings: two St. Petersburg apartments, one apartment in Moscow, a house in the Leningrad region and nonresidential property on Moscow's Arbat street.
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