The Rusfond charity foundation filed a formal request to the Investigative Committee to open a criminal investigation, claiming 21 million rubles ($263,000) donated in 2014 to the well-known singer Zhanna Friske, suffering from brain cancer at the time, was stolen, Russian media reported Friday.
Friske's illness became public knowledge in 2014 and Russia's state-run Channel One television channel and the Rusfond foundation started collecting money on her behalf. Rusfond donated 25 million rubles ($625,000 at the time) to Friske, and both parties signed a contract, obligating Friske to report on how she spent the money.
Friske died in June 2015. Rusfond had received a report from her before her death, stating that she had spent 4 million rubles ($100,000 at the time) on treatment, the Kommersant newspaper reported. Six months after the singer's death, the foundation contacted her heirs to enquire about the rest of the sum, but received no answer.
“According to the information available to us, this money could have been transferred into the bank accounts of other people,” the statement by Rusfond said, Kommersant reported.
Friske's father Vladimir Kopylov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency he hadn't been contacted by Rusfond about the money.
