Investigator in furniture contraband case declared innocent

The Moscow City Court denied all charges brought against special caseinvestigator of the Interior Ministry's investigation committee PavelZaytsev. He was investigating the case on furniture contraband by the TriKita and Grand companies. The Court decided that accusations brought by the General Prosecutor'sOffice against Zaytsev for exceeding his authorities were not proved duringcourt proceedings. The court came to the conclusion that the decision ofthe special case investigator to conduct 12 searches and detain twosuspects had been made in accordance with law and documents that provedthat there was the possibility that documents important for the case couldhave been destroyed and that the suspects were trying to escape justice bynot appearing for questioning. In addition, the court revealed no personalinterest for Zaytsev to conduct searches and detain the people. It is worth mentioning that the General Prosecutor's Office filed acriminal case against Zaytsev in the name of the people on December 20claiming his actions within the furniture contraband case illegal. Relativecourt proceedings started on June 28, 2002. .