The Moscow City Duma approved Vladimir Churikov as a new city prosecutor, the Kommersant daily reported Wednesday. Churikov's candidacy was introduced to the city parliament by Russia's Prosecutor General Yury Chaika, the report said.
Once approved by presidential decree, Churikov will replace Sergei Kudeneyev, who resigned recently amid allegations of involvement in a bribery scandal.
Kudeneyev decided to quit after his dealings with Alexei Volkov, a former official charged with fraud, became public knowledge. Volkov was arrested in possession of 500,000 euros ($560,000), which according to his testimony was a bribe for the prosecutor to get him to lighten the three-year prison sentence of a banker convicted of embezzlement.
Kudeneyev's involvement in the criminal scheme was not proven but he stepped down after a probe found his dealings with Volkov had violated prosecutorial ethical code, Kommersant reported, citing unidentified sources familiar with the situation.
His replacement Churikov has been a city prosecutor in the southern region of Volgograd for the last five years. His colleagues describe him as a “workhorse” who prefers to keep a low profile, Kommersant reported, citing unidentified sources.
The Volgograd Prosecutor's Office headed by Churikov is renowned for successfully bringing charges against terrorists who set off explosives in the city's railway station and on a trolleybus in December 2013, claiming 34 lives.
Churikov also successfully prosecuted Igor Kulikov, the former deputy mayor of Volgograd in charge of communal services, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption in 2014.
In 2011 a group of local activists, the Volgograd Consumers' Union, accused Churikov of not doing his job properly and started gathering signatures for a petition to fire him, but the campaign came to nothing.
