On Thursday, investigators filed five criminal cases against Ministry of Defense officials for fraud. The officials reportedly sold Ministry company "Oboronservis" property at overly low prices. The damages are estimated to be at 3 billion rubles ($100 million).

Investigators from the Chief Military Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee (IC CMID) searched Oboronservis [an Openly Traded Company], controlled by the Ministry of Defense. Law enforcement officials suspect officials of the fraudulent sale of real estate, land, and shares owned by Oboronservis.

In total, military investigators have filed five counts of fraud under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code (fraud). According to investigators, officials in the Ministry of Defence selected Oboronservis's most liquid and most prestigious assets, both in the regions and in the capital. "Then, as a rule, these properties were given a huge budget, afterwards the property is sold at significantly reduced prices affiliated with Oboronservis commercial structures," stated in the IC CMID.

Many of the properties were bought with money stolen from the very same Oboronservis. How the officials were implicated of their crimes has yet to be reported. Investigators have mentioned only one name: former head of the Department of Property Relations of the Ministry of Defense Elena Vasilieva, who is an advisor to Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. According to data, to the fraud was committed by employees involved in her department.

Investigators cited several examples of criminal transactions. One of them was in the Temryuk district of the Krasnodar region. Officials of the Department of Property Relations illegally seized more than 3 hectares of land from the federal government and gave it to a subordinate enterprises to lease out. They then built a village-style complex, and at the expense of the Defense Ministry, and spent more than 300 million rubles. The land was subsequently sold for only 92 million rubles.

In another case, a complex of buildings in the center of Moscow were sold to the State Design Institute. the complex was sold for 282 million rubles below market value. "Moreover, the institution was involved in the design of sites of national defense" noted investigators. Another other three buildings in the center of Moscow, and the land under them, were sold for 700 million rubles, which is at least 200 million less than the market value. The well known hotel Soyuz and the land under it was sold for just 600 million rubles, which is one and a half times less than the market value.

Defense Ministry has not commented the cases yet. However, it is known that Minister Anatoly Serdyukov arrived on the scene of the searches. "The searches include Elena Vasilieva, who worked for the Ministry of Defense. Currently, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has already arrived," said a source in law enforcement to RIA Novosti.

Oboronservis manages and coordinates the activities of affiliates of the Ministry that provide repair and maintenance of weapons and equipment, construction, building materials, food, etc.