MOSCOW, August 3 (Itar-Tass) — The Investigative Committee (SK) has asked a court to place head of the Kontinent airline Vladimir Krasilnikov under arrest, representative of the SK’s Moscow inter-regional department (MMSUT) Tatyana Morozova told Itar-Tass.
“On Wednesday, Vladimir Krasilnikov was charged with fraud and deliberate bankruptcy,” Morozova said. The SK takes into account the fact that he is accused of the commission of serious crime, punished by up to 10 years in jail, and that he is at large and may put pressure on witnesses, destroy the available evidence as provided by financial documents, obstruct the ascertaining of his accomplices, and flee the investigators.
Earlier, the MMSUT opened a criminal case over Kontinent’s illegal actions, as it cancelled numerous flights.
After the Rosaviatsiya Air Transport Agency recalled the license from Kontinent, which found itself on the brink of bankruptcy because of a multi-million-ruble debt, the company suspended flights from July 30. Sixty-nine flights were cancelled in the period from July 29 through July 31, which stranded over 3,000 passengers at airports.
After the cancellation of flights, the government moved to take measures to protect the rights of passengers in the East Siberian, Volga, Ural and Southern transport regions and make arrangements with other airlines.