Entrepreneur Boris Shpigel said he was ready to cooperate with the investigation and testify in his case, the Izvestia correspondent reports from the Moscow City Court hall.
“I am ready to testify and cooperate with the investigation. I have already asked my lawyers to pass this on to the investigator. I am ready to help if I can. But I’m afraid I don’t have much time left. My health condition has deteriorated so much that soon there will be no one to interrogate, ”the businessman said.
On March 31, Spiegel was hospitalized from the Moscow SIZO No. 4 to the Matrosskaya Tishina prison hospital, where he was in the case of the former Governor of the Penza Region, Ivan Belozertsev.
On March 24, the businessman became ill in the courthouse, where he was supposed to choose a preventive measure. He had to put on an IV, after the procedure, the pressure stabilized. Spiegel was taken from the courtroom by an ambulance.
The businessman’s lawyers asked the court, if a measure of restraint was chosen for Spiegel, to appoint him house arrest, claiming that he was sick with a severe form of thromboembolism and for health reasons could not be in jail. The court rejected the request and arrested the businessman until May 20 in the case of giving a bribe to Belozertsev.
On March 22, Belozertsev was arrested by the Basmanny Court of Moscow for two months. He and other persons involved in the criminal case were formally charged with taking and giving bribes. Belozertsev pleaded not guilty. Also in custody for two months were imprisoned employee of the Penza region in Moscow Gennady Markov and deputy head of the Penza region under the government of the Russian Federation Fedor Fedotov.
According to the investigation, from January to September 2020, Belozertsev received bribes through intermediaries in the amount of 31 million rubles from Spiegel, his wife Yevgenia and director of OJSC Pharmacy, Anton Koloskov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the resignation of Belozertsev. Oleg Melnichenko has been appointed Acting Governor.