The Cherkessk City Court has begun questioning prosecution witnesses in the case of embezzlement of funds from the Russian Pension Fund in Ingushetia. The main defendant is Magomed-Bashir Kalimatov, the former head of the republic's federal postal service and the brother of the head of Ingushetia.
The first eight witnesses, post office employees, testified remotely. Some stated they did not remember or did not know the details of how pension payments were organized. The prosecutor noted significant discrepancies between their current testimony and the information obtained during the preliminary investigation. Other witnesses confirmed that they received funds for pension payments from their superiors and reported to them, and that they did not issue one-time payments exceeding 500,000 rubles to anyone.
The defendants, including Magomed-Bashir Kalimatov, deny guilt in embezzling 519 million rubles. The Russian Pension and Social Insurance Fund has filed a lawsuit for 371 million rubles. Furthermore, Kalimatov's defense is seeking his transfer from the Armavir pretrial detention center, citing poor conditions.
