Law enforcement authorities in the Moscow region have arrested a police general, two senior officers and several corporate executives at a local gas station network accused of stealing fuel designated for police vehicles, Russia’s Interior Ministry said Monday.
Major General Sergei Malkov, who managed logistics as deputy head of the Moscow region’s Interior Ministry branch, allegedly oversaw the criminal scheme alongside Igor Martyshov, board chairman of EuroTrans, a major gas station operator.
Malkov and two of his subordinates, Colonel Alexei Suyarov and Lieutenant Colonel Anna Levina, were fired from the Interior Ministry following their arrests. Investigators have asked a judge to place them in pre-trial detention.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said three other EuroTrans executives have been placed in pre-trial detention. All seven individuals face charges of large-scale embezzlement, which carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The arrests come after antitrust authorities in June accused EuroTrans, which operates 57 gas stations in and around Moscow, of price gouging as Ukrainian drone strikes against oil refineries triggered widespread fuel shortages.
