Russian opposition MP got $750,000 from state fund?

Moscow, April 19 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A manager of Russia's Skolkovo Foundation, a high-tech innovation hub, has been accused of embezzling $750,000 in state funds and paying the money to an opposition lawmaker who supported last year's anti-Kremlin protests.

The criminal case, the latest of several targeting Skolkovo executives, has been opened against the foundation's vice president, Alexei Beltyukov, on the suspicion that he gave the money to State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov between February 2011 and February 2012, allegedly for lectures and research projects, the Russian Investigative Committee said.

Ponomaryov was paid $300,000 to deliver 10 lectures in various Russian cities, and also got another $450,000 for scientific and research work, the Investigative Committee added.

"Beltyukov attempted to conceal the misappropriation of such a large sum by signing a number of agreements between the foundation and Ponomaryov," the committee said in a statement.

Investigators said they were looking into the deal to check how much of it Ponomaryov has fulfilled.

Beltyukov denied the allegations Friday, saying the foundation hired Ponomaryov and paid him on a legal basis.

Ponomaryov, who took an active part in the mass opposition protests last year, dismissed the case as "politically motivated".

"In the period when the agreement was signed, Beltyukov was not even working at the foundation," Ponomaryov said.

The Skolkovo Foundation, a pet project of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev opened during his presidency in 2010, is often called Russia's "Silicon Valley" and was intended to lead the country's drive to diversify and modernise its economy and increase the output of high-tech products.

The foundation has come under the scrutiny of investigators recently, with several senior officials being accused of corruption.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

pm/dg