Skolkovo: Russian 'Silicon Valley'

Russian prosecutors said Wednesday they have exposed major financial irregularities and waste at a center for innovation that has long been the pet project of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

A Moscow District Court ordered a State Duma lawmaker Tuesday to pay 2.728 million rubles ($82,776) to the Skolkovo Foundation, Russia's high-tech development center, over payments allegedly improperly made to him by one of its officials.

A senior Skolkovo manager accused of embezzling money allocated for developing the innovation center has been cleared of all charges and reinstated to the team, a Skolkovo Foundation spokesman said this week.

The Russian government appeared to renew its support for the Skolkovo innovation hub Thursday as Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told the Cabinet that the embattled project would be included in a state program and receive 502 billion rubles ($15.2 billion) of funding through 2020.

Russian presidential aide Andrei Fursenko said on Wednesday he has received no official job offer to oversee the Skolkovo innovation hub for the presidential administration, despite reports to the contrary.

The president of Russia's Skolkovo Foundation, billionaire businessman Viktor Vekselberg has been questioned by the Investigative Committee over an alleged misuse of funds to support the opposition, the foundation’s deputy head Alexander Chernov said on Monday.

Russia’s former Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov welcomed reports that ex-minister Andrei Fursenko may be appointed to oversee the Skolkovo innovation hub for the presidential administration.

The president of Russia's Skolkovo Foundation, billionaire businessman Viktor Vekselberg, denied on Wednesday earlier allegations that the foundation funded the political opposition.

A senior vice president at Russia’s high-profile, high-tech center The Skolkovo Foundation, Alexei Beltyukov, has been suspended, a spokesman for the foundation has confirmed.

Deputy prime minister and influential Kremlin ideologue Vladislav Surkov mounted a vigorous defense of the embattled Skolkovo innovation hub and of the Russian political system during a visit to London on Wednesday.

The Russian government should not interfere with the investigation into a senior manager of the Skolkovo Foundation, accused of embezzling $750,000 in state funds and paying the money to an opposition lawmaker, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov said on Wednesday.

Russian investigators on Friday accused a senior manager of the Skolkovo Foundation, a high-tech innovation hub, of embezzling $750,000 in state funds and paying the money to an opposition lawmaker who supported last year’s anti-Kremlin protests.

A search of the Skolkovo Foundation office on Thursday turned up documents that investigators seized as evidence in an embezzlement case against former officials, the Russian Investigative Committee said.

Russian law enforcement officers searched the offices of the Skolkovo Foundation in Moscow, a centerpiece of the government's high-tech development drive, as part of an on-going inquiry into embezzlement by a former official, a foundation representative said on Thursday.

The former high-ranking official of the Skolkovo Foundation, suspected of embezzlement, has been temporarily relieved of his duties as the head of the Russian Energy Agency (REA), the Russian Energy Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Russian investigators on Tuesday poured cold water on claims by the Skolkovo hi-tech hub that it had volunteered information about embezzlement of 24 million rubles (about $800,000) by some of its own staff, prompting a criminal investigation.