Moscow City Court has relaxed the measures of restraint of former Deputy Minister of Education Marina Rakova and Rector of the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Science (known as Shaninka) Sergey Zuev. Rakova was placed in a detention centre, while Zuev was under house arrest. Both are now put under a milder version of house arrest that only limits certain actions decided by court, the Interfax news agency reports.
Other persons of interest in the case were also put under a milder house arrest. They stand accused of major embezzlement.
On 4 August, Rakova pled guilty and asked the court to place her under house arrest. However, the court then refused to release her from the detention centre.
Moreover, RIA Novosti reports that the case investigator requested the court to relax the detention measure for Zuev who is under investigation in the same case as Rakova.
On 14 October, the news emerged that the criminal case against another person of interest in this investigation, Rector of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) Vladimir Mau was dropped.
Mau was initially put under house arrest. He was then released after pleading guilty and entering into a recognisance not to flee the prosecution, Kommersant reported, citing its sources. One day earlier, Zuev was also placed under house arrest and released from a detention centre. The case investigator said that the scientist also had pled guilty, paid off damages, testified against others, and allegedly uncovered his accomplices that the investigation had not known about.
According to the investigation, Mau, Rakova and Zuev signed fake work contracts between RANEPA and 13 people, while some of them were Education Ministry employees. As a result, they were illegally receiving salaries, causing damages amounting to 21 million rubles (€350,000) to the university funds. Shaninka is believed to be a contractor in the case.
