Kremlin Official Convicted of $1 Mln Fraud

A court in Moscow convicted Russia’s former presidential administration department head, Andrey Voronin, of fraud and sentenced him to three years of imprisonment. Voronin attempted to obtain $1 mln from Japan’s Toshiba for removing it from a “black list” of companies allegedly banned from government contracts. Voronin made a plea agreement and apparently expected a milder sentence. Defense attorney Mikhail Stepanov says that his client has been “deceived” by the investigators who promised to obtain a suspended term for him. “Such sentences undermine the trust in the whole institute of pre-trial bargains,” the attorney stated. http://www.lenta.ru/news/2011/04/05/tomo/ http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1615483 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlxu1A6K-do (video)