The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement that the money was part of more than 588 million rubles Navalny had raised “exclusively” for his non-profit organisations, including the Anti-Corruption Fund. Russian investigators on Tuesday opened a criminal probe into Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, alleging he used more than 356 million rubles ($4.8 million) of donations to his organisations for personal purposes including holidays abroad. The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement that the money was part of more than 588 million rubles Navalny had raised “exclusively” for his non-profit organisations, including the Anti-Corruption Fund. On Tuesday Navalny described the fresh criminal probe against him as “invented by Putin”. In February 2014 he was charged with fraud and money laundering and spent almost a year under house arrest before receiving a suspended sentence in December that year.

Source: The Hindu December 29, 2020 20:03 UTC