Court keeps in custody Popov, accused of fraud, ex-deputy defense minister

The Second Western District Military Court left former Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov, who is accused of large-scale fraud, under arrest. This was reported to "Izvestia" on February 5 in the court.

The court considered Popov's appeal against the extension of his detention and left the decision of the 235th garrison military court unchanged, and the appeal - without satisfaction.

The lawyer of the former deputy minister, Denis Sagach, asked the court to take into account Popov's serious illnesses and change the preventive measure to house arrest, as well as reminded about his long record of military service.

Popov was detained on August 29, 2024 on suspicion of fraud on a particularly large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). On the same day, the military court arrested him. According to the version of the investigation, in 2021-2024, being responsible for the development of the park "Patriot", Popov stole the funds allocated for this purpose. Also in the Investigative Committee (IC) of the Russian Federation reported that the former Deputy Minister of Defense was involved in the forced involvement of the heads of commercial organizations, contracted with the park, to work without paying for them.

The investigation found that he acted in cooperation with the park director Vyacheslav Akhmedov and deputy head of the main department of innovation development of the Defense Ministry Vladimir Shesterov, whose detention became known on August 5. A criminal case was opened against them. Akhmedov was arrested, and Shesterov was sent under house arrest until September 21, after which the term was extended.