The former mayor of Volgodonsk has been arrested in connection with a fraud case.

Yuri Marinenko, who headed Volgodonsk for a year, has been arrested on fraud charges. According to investigators, in 2016, while serving as head of the city's Ministry of Internal Affairs, he illegally obtained low-income status and, on the basis of this status, acquired ownership of an apartment free of charge.

The Rostov Region Investigative Committee reported the arrest of a resident of the region suspected of fraud (Part 4, Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to investigators, in 2016, the suspect, while serving as head of the Volgodonsk Municipal Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, submitted documents to the Volgodonsk Municipal Unitary Enterprise containing knowingly false information and documents that illegally granted him low-income status. This subsequently allowed him to illegally and gratuitously acquire ownership of an apartment located in the city of Volgodonsk, the value of which at the time of the crime was more than 2.5 million rubles," the department reported.

This refers to Yuri Marinenko, who became the head of Volgodonsk in 2024. He resigned as head of the city in July of this year. At the time, he stated that his resignation was due to "force majeure circumstances," and not "to any misconduct or failure to fulfill duties," 161.ru writes.

"Caucasian Knot" also wrote that the Rostov Regional Court upheld the verdict of a previous court, which found former State Duma deputy and businessman Vadim Varshavsky guilty of a large-scale Fraud involving credit funds, and sentencing him to seven years and ten months in prison.

According to investigators, Vadim Varshavsky, while CEO of DonBioTech, attempted to embezzle funds from Rosselkhozbank during the construction of the DonBioTech plant in Volgodonsk. To do so, he presented the bank with falsified documents, hoping to receive a tranche of ten million rubles. The bank doubted the authenticity of the documents and refused to issue the money. Investigators also believe Varshavsky entered into deals that were clearly unfavorable for DonBioTech, thereby leading the company to bankruptcy.