FORMER SENATOR CHAKHMAKHCHIAN CHARGED (PART 2)

Russia & CIS General Newswire
February 8, 2007 Thursday 1:51 PM MSK

Former Federation Council member Levon Chakhmakhchian has been charged
with embezzlement of $1.5 million (over 40 million rubles) and abuse
of power, a source in the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said
on Thursday.

"According to investigators, Chakhmakhchian and his accomplices
(including his son-in-law, a Russian Audit Chamber auditor, and
the chief accountant of the Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation
Association) extorted $1.5 million from a major airline for the
settlement of alleged problems with tax and customs duties in April
2006," says a report posted on the Prosecutor General’s Office website
on Thursday.

"Chakhmakhchian and other members of the criminal group came to the
airline’s offices on June 2, 2006. Federal Security Service officers
prevented their criminal attempt to receive some of the money,
$300,000 in cash," the report runs.