Viktor Vekselberg, head of the Skolkovo Fund, announced that he has filed charges against Ilya Ponomarev in court. The Investigative Committee suspects Ponomarev of unlawful receipt of money from the Fund. The deputy himself learned of the lawsuit from journalists.
“Truth his absolutely on my side. Skolkovo knows this full well. And Vekselberg knows this full well. People are likely just protecting themselves from pressure from law-enforcement agencies and want to avoid getting hit. What can I say, I’m also interested in having this project develop so that everything would be normal with it,” Ilya Ponomarev told Izvestia.
The State Duma deputy is confident that he will not have any problems in court.
“I have not had any relations with Skolkovo since November 2011, when the contract was concluded. I can say that everything there is completely normal. There is no doubt that I will prove that all the works were completed,” the politician said.
The opposition member has still not received the complaint himself.
In 2010, Ponomarev signed a contract with Skolkovo to write reports on the topic of “commercialization of technology and international advancement of innovative companies” before the end of 2010. The work was completed on deadline, and the deputy received 13 million rubles for it.
A year later, the deputy contracted with Innovation City to give 10 lectures. He was supposed to receive $300,000 for giving them. However, the talks prompted suspicions in the Investigative Committee since the length of many of these lectures was only 20 minutes, or they didn’t take place at all.