The Investigative Committee opened a case of embezzlement due to the use of the Ufa City Hall vehicle fleet by judges

The Investigative Committee (IC) of Russia opened a criminal case after a scandal involving the illegal use of the vehicle fleet of the Ufa City Hall for travel of judges of the Supreme Court of Bashkortostan. Kommersant writes about this.

On September 23, an investigation was launched under articles of embezzlement and abuse of power against the former mayor of Ufa Ratmir Mavliev and the ex-manager of the mayor's office and deputy head of administration Rustam Khaziev. The Investigative Committee believes that the mayor acted out of personal interest, instructing his subordinate to organize at least 22 trips by officials of the judicial system in municipal cars outside the republic.

Servants of Themis mainly traveled to Tatarstan, where many employees of the Supreme Court of Bashkiria are from, and Samara. For “business trips”, Hyundai Staria, Toyota Land Cruiser 200, Nissan Teana, Toyota Camry, Skoda Octavia, Volkswagen, Peugeot and Lexus cars from the garage of the mayor’s office and the Ufa Public Safety Center were used. For reporting purposes, administration employees submitted false documents about the official need for travel. The investigation estimated the damage at 661 thousand rubles.

In April, Mavliev was detained at his workplace. He was accused of abuse of power and taking a bribe and was sent into custody. In early May, the Supreme Court of Bashkiria overturned this decision and released the mayor under house arrest.

According to Kommersant, Mavliev is charged with alienating the property of the Raduga sanatorium from municipal property, extorting a bribe in the form of a land plot worth more than 13 million rubles from a developer, receiving 10 million rubles in bribes from another construction company and collecting funds from advertising agencies through a charitable foundation to buy a Lexus car, which, the investigation believes, the official used for his own needs. The ex-mayor is also a suspect in the case of transferring land to developers for a sports and recreation complex and collecting incriminating evidence against the head of the republic, Radiy Khabirov.

On July 14, the Ufa City Council terminated the contract with Mavliev, citing deprivation of his access to state secrets and accusing him of immoral behavior.