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| Ex-Deputy Fined Just 0.007% of $467 Mln Property Scam |
MOSCOW, June 5, 2013 (RIA Novosti) – A former lawmaker from the Moscow Regional Duma has been fined just 0.007 percent of the value of the $467 million worth of real estate he was found guilty of stealing, investigators said on Wednesday.
Vasily Dupak, a former lawmaker of the ruling United Russia party, was also given a six-year suspended sentence with a five year probation period as well as the 1 million ruble ($31,000) fine, regional prosecutors said on their website. He could have been sentenced to a maximum of ten years for the offences.
Dupak, who formerly chaired the board of directors of the Plemzavod Petrovskoye company, was convicted of having stolen land plots of 2,200 hectares (8.49 square miles) in the Lyuberetsky and Mozhaisky districts, to the east and west of Moscow respectively.
The land, which was allotted to the company in 1992, belonged to its employees, but officials forged documents allowing a legal entity they set up to acquire the property rights. Dupak later sold land lots of 127 hectares (0.49 square miles). A total of 561 people lost money due to the fraud.
Investigators launched a criminal case against Dupak in October 2008. He was detained at an airport as he tried to flee Russia while in possession of two foreign passports. He was later placed in a pre-trial detention center, but in 2010 he was released on a pledge not to leave Russia.
Dupak was also charged in a 65 million ruble ($2 million) tax evasion case, which was later closed after a reassessment by the tax authorities.
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