"Yulia Bogdanova, the director general of Kemerovo Confectionery Plant was detained today… She is to be charged with… violation of safety rules, which caused two or more deaths," the Committee’s spokeswoman, Svetlana Petrenko, said on Telegram.
Petrenko said the suspect’s home had been searched. The inquiry found that the company’s director "while being in charge of fire safety, was repeatedly informed by her subordinates about failures in the building’s fire safety system."
"Despite this, Bogdanova was too engrossed in leasing new shopping venues to address the failures in the fire safety," the statement added.
The fire began on the top floor of the shopping mall on Sunday, when the center was packed with visitors, including many children. As of Wednesday, the bodies of 64 people have been found, while 14 people are hospitalized.
The initial stage of the investigation showed that the automated fire alarm system had not been working properly for a week by the time of the tragedy. A shopping mall security guard turned off the warning system.
Local authorities have warned that they are still looking into all requests from families and the number of victims might be revised up.
