Moscow: Prosecutors File Charges Against Ex-Senator Chakhmakhchyan

PROSECUTORS FILE CHARGES AGAINST EX-SENATOR CHAKHMAKHCHYAN

RIA Novosti, Russia
Feb 8 2007

MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti) – Russian prosecutors have filed
embezzlement charges against Levon Chakhmakhchyan, a former member
of the upper house of parliament.

Chakhmakhchyan, 54, an ex-senator from the Kalmykia Region in southern
Russia, is accused of "misappropriating property" worth $1.5 million,
the Prosecutor General’s Office said.

Prosecutors accuse Chakhmakhchyan of forming an organized crime group
to extort funds from companies, including air carrier Transaero.

Investigators said Chakhmakhchyan and his associates arrived at the
Transaero office June 2, where they were caught receiving $300,000
in cash specially marked by police.

"Last April, former senator Chakhmakhchyan and other members of
the criminal group pressed top managers of a major airline, through
deception and abuse of office, to give them $1.5 million for resolving
the company’s alleged problems with tax payments and customs duties,"
investigators said.

The ex-senator’s lawyer, Boris Kuznetsov, said he would appeal the
charges. "I will appeal with the Basmanny Court of Moscow against
the charges because I find them illegal and unsubstantiated," he said.

A former deputy head of the Federation Council’s committee for
self-government, Chakhmakhchyan was dismissed from the post after
being allegedly caught up in the bribery scandal in June 2006. He
was not arrested until February 1 for health reasons.

On that day, the Basmanny Court sanctioned a two-month custody for
Chakhmakhchyan, adding that the former senator could face up to 10
years in prison if found guilty. The judge also said Chakhmakhchyan’s
health allowed him to stay in custody.

Russia’s Supreme Court agreed in December to launch criminal
proceedings in absentia against Chakhmakhchyan, who was in the hospital
at the time. The former senator’s defense appealed the decision,
and the court will hear the appeal March 6.

In June, Federal security agents found $300,000 in cash, which
had been previously marked with special ink, in the office of the
chief accountant of the non-governmental organization, Association
of Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation. An ethnic Armenian,
Chakhmakhchyan was vice president of the organization.

Prosecutors said Chakhmakhchyan’s "crime group" also involved his
son-in-law, Armen Oganesyan, who was an assistant auditor in the
Russian Audit Chamber, and the chief accountant at the Association
of the Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation.

Chakhmakhchyan’s lawyer said the two suspects in the case had
been arrested but that his client dismissed all the accusations as
"absolute nonsense."