Governor of Tver region does not appear at Prosecutor's Office

Vladimir Platov, the governor of the Tver Region - a region in central Russia, did not appear today at the Prosecutor's Office where they had to bring him a charge with excess of authority. His assistant told RIA Novosti that the governor is "very unwell" and is staying in a hospital but the assistant refused to say what hospital it is.

The Prosecutor-General's Office of the Russian Federation confirmed that Platov had not come to the Tver Prosecutor's Office at the fixed time and that his whereabouts "is unknown to the Prosecutor's Office".

On September 4 the Prosecutor's Office of the Tver Region adopted a resolution on prosecuting the governor as a defendant and intended to bring him a charge today. The governor is charged with excess of powers "which entailed substantial violation of the interests of society and the state". The investigation found out that in spring 2002 Platov ordered to issue bonds of the Tver Region and reached an agreement on their sale with a dubious form headed by the governor's acquaintance. But, as result, the bonds with the nominal value of 500 million roubles were stolen, and the firm remitted only one fifth of this sum into the Regional administration's account. As a result, the heating season in the region was not financed in full.