04.09 3 Managers Charged with $3.2 Mln Embezzlement from Glonass
MOSCOW, September 4 (RAPSI) - Three senior managers were charged with embezzling $3.2 million allocated for Russias Glonass satellite navigation program, a spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee said.
Glonass (Global Navigation Satellite System), which was officially launched in 1993, is Russias answer to the US Global Positioning System (GPS). It provides real-time positioning and speed data for surface, sea and airborne objects with an accuracy of one meter.
According to Vladimir Markin, the charges have been brought against George Kovkov, Deputy Director General of TsNIImash, the head research company of Russia's federal space agency; Alexander Chernov, chief of the company's Capital Projects Department; and Alexander Belov, Director General of one of the Federal Special Construction Agency's (Spetsstroy) departments.
Investigators claim that the total sum embezzled by the three suspects from the state budget totals 107 million ruble ($3.2 million) and they face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty, Markin said.
