Man Driving Diamond-encrusted Mercedes Caught Embezzling Cosmodrome Funds
Got him! Director accused of fraud at new spaceport is detained in Belarus, The Siberian Times
“Alleged to have embezzled four million roubles, video of arrest shows him driving diamond-encrusted Mercedes. A senior director suspected of embezzling funds from the construction of the new Vostochny cosmodrome has been arrested after going on the run. The 45-year-old Georgian national, whose name has not been disclosed, had fled Russia after being accused of taking four million roubles ($75,000). But he has finally been caught and detained in Belarus, and will now face the allegations and a potential prison sentence if found guilty. It is alleged his company was given the money as an advance payment for contract work at the spaceport but the work did not start and he took the funds for his own needs. .. Police in the Amur region put the shamed director on the international wanted list and he was located in Minsk, where he drove a luxury Mercedes car decorated with Swarovski diamonds. According to local media, it cost $300,000 (16 million roubles) to have the vehicle covered.”
Keith’s note: I just love all the pictures of the car this article contains. This guy was embezzling money from Putin and yet he thought it was fine to be driving around in a “diamond-encrusted Mercedes”. It would seem like he was either asking to be caught – or …. that cosmodrome construction workers commonly drive around in diamond-encrusted Mercedes.
I wonder if he bought it secondhand from Liberace’s estate?
Nah, the Big L had too good taste for a car like that!
No, from Paris Hilton.
Meanwhile, in Soviet Russia…oh wait!
Russia has turned into a kleptocracy – he probably fit in with his peers.
has turned? you mean it has always been …
I noticed in the first photo that although handcuffed he is still interested in checking the clarity of one of the diamonds on the hood of his vehicle.
In America, you wear diamonds and drive a car.
In Russia, your car is made of diamonds and wears YOU.
“Diamond-encrusted Mercedes”. Huh. I wonder what was the FSB’s first clue that maybe he was dirty?
It’s stories like this that reminds me that, no matter how bad political and commercial corruption gets here in the UK, compared to the really big players out there, our entries are all rank amateurs!
those were not diamonds but Swarovski crystals (basically lead glass, even Paris Hilton can’t afford real diamond encrusted Benz), if it were diamonds he would have to embezzle lot more than 4 mil rubles
The worst thing about this guy isn’t his thievery – it’s his complete lack of taste; what a gaudy joke of a car!
Good grief !!
Russia will never conquer space with this kind of shenanigans.
Exactly what I mean – She’s a beauty. That Merc was just tacky!
OK. So you’re a wanted criminal on the run. Do you think the first step might be to ditch the flash car that can be seen from space??
Bedazzle
Maybe this is why I couldn’t find any beginnings of launch pads on Google Maps.
I wonder how often he really drove this car. Seems like, at certain times of day, the sparkles off the hood would interfere with vision.