State Duma lower parliament house agrees to initiate criminal case against Ashot Yegiazaryan on charges of large-scale fraud

October 22, 2010 - 20:07 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - All factions of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, with the only exception of Liberal Democrats, or LDPR, have said thy would agree to have a criminal case opened against LDPR faction member Ashot Yegiazaryan on charges of large-scale fraud.

The United Russia, Just Russia and Communist factions said they were ready to accept a relative request of head of the Investigation Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office (SKP) head Alexander Bastrykin.

The State Duma “should accept the request of SKP head Alexander Bastrykin,” said Alexander Moskalets, a member of the United Russia faction holding the majority of seats in the lower parliamentary house.

According to Moskalets, parliamentary immunity is not a personal privilege and is applicable to public activities of lawmakers. If the lawmakers refuse to give their consent to initiate criminal proceedings against Yegiazaryan, it might lead to office abuse and will violate constitutional norms on equality before law.

The Communist faction shares this point of view. Thus, Viktor Ilyukhin, a Communist faction member, urged to let investigators probe into “this shadow business.”

“Yegiazaryan should have appeared personally with a request to initiate criminal proceedings to clarify everything. The case should be opened,” he said and added that it did not mean Yegiazaryan would be stripped off parliamentary immunity. “We give our consent just to open a criminal case. The question of immunity will be tackled in ten days period, and only after corpus delicti is established,” he noted.

The Just Russia faction also spoke in favour of accepting Bastrykin’s request. “Parliamentary immunity is meant to protect lawmakers from political persecution,” said Mikhail Yemelyanov, a representative of the Just Russia faction. “We have seen no political activity on the part of lawmaker Yegiazaryan. That is why we believe there are no grounds to say that a criminal case is geared to punish him for this kind of activity.” In his words, it is the competence of investigation and court bodies to look into the facts.

Meanwhile, the LDPR faction spoke in support of its member. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the deputy speaker of the State Duma with the LDPR faction said the lower house may not consider the issue since such requests should come only from the prosecutor general. According to Zhirinovsky, the situation around Yegiazaryan is linked to a dispute around hotel Moscow. In his words, it was former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov and his wife Elena Baturina who applied to the SKP with a request to open a criminal case against Yegiazaryan, since they could not “pull him out from the project and finally get rid of him” because of his parliamentary immunity. “It is a petty seizure of property. We cannot give it a green light,” he said.

Yegiazaryan is currently staying outside Russia and is absent from the Duma session. He wrote an open letter, which was circulated in the State Duma. In his letter, Yegiazaryan said he could not come back to Russia since his life was in danger. He asked either to postpone the Duma discussion on the subject, or to organize video conferencing.

Meanwhile, head of the Duma Credentials Commission Alexander Gurov said so far the question of stripping Yegiazaryan of his deputy immunity had not been raised. “It will be phase two, a next stage that will commence only when the prosecutor general sends a relevant request after a criminal case is opened,” he said.

In August, Russian media reported that a shareholder in the Europark trading complex, Vitaly Smagin, had accused Yegiazaryan of stealing 20 percent of shares in Centurion Alliance, a company responsible for the construction and management of the Europark trading complex. Smagin filed a relative appeal with the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office. In response, Yegiazaryan requested the Prosecutor General’s Office to bring Smagin liable for slander.

Located at the junction of the Moscow Ring Road and upmarket Rublevskoye highway, Europark was commissioned in 2005 and is one of Moscow’s biggest shopping malls. It comprises an Auchan hypermarket, a multiplex cinema, and a number of other trade outlets and entertainment facilities, Itar-Tass reported.