Defence Ministry's former chief financier to be amnestied?

On Wednesday the presidium of the Moscow circuit court martial re-confirmed the decision to amnesty the Russian Defence Ministry's former financier Colonel-General Georgi Oleinik.

Therefore, the presidium dismissed the protest made by chief judge advocate Alexander Savenkov who insisted on reversing the verdict passed by the board of cassation of the Moscow circuit court martial on August 16th, according to a RIA Novosti correspondent.

Then the board of cassation of the Moscow circuit court martial found it possible to amnesty Oleinik, changing the sentence of the Moscow garrison court martial passed on April 29th, this year, which implied three years of imprisonment. The judges found him guilty of exceeding his official powers when transferring to Ukraine in 1996-1997 $450mln for construction materials deliveries for Defence Ministry needs, which never happened. After the verdict had been pronounced, Oleinik, who had given a written undertaking not to leave, was taken into custody in the courtroom.

Moreover, when dismissing the protest made by the chief judge advocate, the presidium of the Moscow circuit court martial reduced on Wednesday the convict's sentence to two years of imprisonment.

Despite the amnesty, Oleinik remains in custody as another legal proceedings have been instituted against him.

This time the chief judge advocate's office charges him with exceeding his official powers when selling the bonds of the interior currency loan to "Voyenbank" /Military Bank/ in 1998. The state bonds were under the Defence Ministry's trustworthy control. As a result, the country was inflicted a $60mln worth of damage, according to the chief judge advocate's office.

After the Moscow circuit court martial session the prosecuting counsel Vladimir Milovanov acting on behalf of the chief judge advocate's office said at a press conference that the presidium's decision would most probably be disputed by the chief judge advocate's office in the military collegium of the Supreme Court.

On August 16th, the panel of judges of the Moscow circuit court martial on criminal cases found it possible to amnesty the general, after the counsels for the defence had filed an appeal to the court of superior jurisdiction. They demanded that the sentence passed by the Moscow garrison court martial passed on April 29th, this year, should be annulled, pleading the official's innocence. They also insisted that the circuit court should stop its legal proceedings against Oleinik "due to a lack of corpus delicti." The counsels for the defence also pointed to the fact that the garrison court interpreted the law in a wrong way and Oleinik was entitled to amnesty as convicted for the first time with his term of imprisonment not exceeding three years. However, the court of appellate jurisdiction considered the garrison court's verdict legal and well-grounded, though found it possible to amnesty the accused.