Russian Former Energy Manager Gets 3 Years for $3M Embezzlement

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED September 21, 2013

Yevgeny Portnov, one of the accused in a $3 million embezzlement case involving state energy corporation Rosenergoatom, has been found guilty and sentenced to three years in a prison colony, the Kommersant newspaper reported Monday.

According to investigators, the funds were embezzled by Rosenergoatom managers between 2004 and 2007. The funds had been earmarked for the purchase of nuclear waste repository equipment. Rosenergoatom subsidiaries include all 10 nuclear power plants in Russia.

Portnov and accomplices agreed with a German firm on the purchase of equipment worth 1.8 million euros and then falsified two commercial offers to Rosenergoatom. One offer was submitted on behalf of a German supplier, with the cost for equipment being substantially exaggerated at 5.55 million euros; the offer also included a 100 percent pre-payment.

The second offer, which was more beneficial, was submitted on behalf of a company controlled by the group of alleged criminals. Eventually the latter was awarded the contract. The equipment was bought from the German company and then sold to Rosenergoatom. The malefactors embezzled more than 100 million rubles ($3 million), which was the difference between the offers.

According to the newspaper, two of Portnov's accomplices stood trial in December 2011. Sergei Tyurin, deputy general director of a company controlled by the group of criminals, was sentenced to a year and a half in a penal colony settlement. Oleg Tsyganov, the former head of Rosenergoatom's marketing, was found not to be of sound mind and sent to a psychiatric facility.

Topics: Russia

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