On December 9, the Leninsky District Court of Kursk ordered the pre-trial detention of Igor Grabin, the former deputy director of the state-run Kursk Region Development Corporation, according to the regional courts’ press service.
Igor Grabin faces charges of abuse of power (Article 285 of the Russian Criminal Code). Prosecutors allege that he approved payment to a contractor for building fortifications on the border with Ukraine, despite the work having already been completed by another company. The estimated damage to the budget amounts to 173 million rubles.
The Kursk Region Development Corporation had received over 3 billion rubles for the fortification project. Ultimately, the Capital Construction Department filed a lawsuit against the corporation for missing construction deadlines, and its subcontractor faced fraud charges (Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code).
Nevertheless, in September, after the fortifications were breached by Ukrainian forces, Governor Alexey Smirnov awarded a medal to Vladimir Lukin, the head of the Kursk Region Development Corporation.
