Russian Court Orders Opposition Lawmaker to Pay Back $83,000 to Skolkovo

A Moscow District Court ordered a State Duma lawmaker Tuesday to pay 2.728 million rubles ($82,776) to the Skolkovo Foundation, Russia's high-tech development center, over payments allegedly improperly made to him by one of its officials. Skolkovo had claimed 9 million rubles ($273,088) from deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, who Russian investigators claim was illegally paid from Skolkovo funds by the center’s senior vice president Alexei Beltyukov between February 2011 and February 2012 for a series of lectures and research projects. An investigation was launched into Beltyukov's actions to analyze the academic value of the lectures Ponomaryov was contracted to provide. Spokesman Vladimir Markin said previously the Investigative Committee planned to launch criminal proceedings against Ponomaryov as part of the Skolkovo Foundation's lawsuit and would be requesting he be stripped of his parliamentary immunity.

http://en.ria.ru/crime/20130827/182987920/Court-Orders-Opposition-Lawmaker-to-Pay-Back-83000-to-Skolkovo-.html