Russia highway robbery: Official 'stole 50km road'
A senior prison official has been detained in Russia accused of stealing a 50km (31-mile) length of highway.
Police said Alexander Protopopov, acting deputy chief of Russia's prison service, oversaw the dismantling of the road in the far-northern Komi region. He then sold off its 7,000 reinforced concrete slabs for personal profit, they added. Officials believe the scheme cost the government more than 6m roubles ($79,000; £54,000).
The road was "dismantled and driven away" over the period of more than a year, between 2014 and 2015, the Investigative Committee said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.
The concrete slabs were then used by a commercial company which also sold them on for a profit, it added.
The construction of a mountain highway for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games cost about $8bn (£5.6bn), with Russian media claiming it would cost the same to slather the 48km road with black caviar.
So many questions!
Police said Alexander Protopopov, acting deputy chief of Russia's prison service, oversaw the dismantling of the road in the far-northern Komi region. He then sold off its 7,000 reinforced concrete slabs for personal profit, they added. Officials believe the scheme cost the government more than 6m roubles ($79,000; £54,000).
The road was "dismantled and driven away" over the period of more than a year, between 2014 and 2015, the Investigative Committee said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.
The concrete slabs were then used by a commercial company which also sold them on for a profit, it added.
The construction of a mountain highway for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games cost about $8bn (£5.6bn), with Russian media claiming it would cost the same to slather the 48km road with black caviar.
So many questions!
- How big are the concrete slabs?
- How much does each slab cost?
- What is the exchange rate between Roubles, Dollars and Pounds?
- How much did the Sochi road cost per km?
- How thick would the caviar be?
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