Court drops case against entrepreneur who died in remand prison

A court in the Moscow region dropped criminal prosecution of entrepreneur Vera Trifonova, who died in a remand prison. She had been accused of 1.5-million rouble fraud. The case was dropped at the request by Trifonova's relatives, their representative Vladimir Zherebyonkov told Itar-Tass. "Criminal prosecution was stopped at the request by Trifonova's relatives, who mistrust the court and believe that it is seeking to pass a guilty verdict," the lawyer said. At present, the Odintsovo town court is continuing the review of the case against two other suspects, former Magadan region legislator Georgy Shamiryan and Trifonova's colleague Yuri Shubin. The investigators said Shubin and Trifonova had promised a banker to broker his appointment to the post of Federation Council member from the Magadan region, and help him receive a 20-billion-rouble bank loan. After the banker reported it to police, Shamiryan was detained on December 16, 2009, as he was taking a package of dummy money in the village of Zhukovka, Odintsovo district. Also, in December 2007, Shubin and Trifonov received from the banker 26 million roubles promising him assistance in securing a lease of a forest area in the Krasnogorsk district. A court arrested Shubin's Bentley and Porsche Cayenne, six land plots in the village of Uspenskoye, Odintsovo district, and a 500-square-meter house. Director of the KitElitNedvizhimost company Vera Trifonova, 52, died on April 30, 2010. He death caused a public stir. The court did not prosecute the resuscitation specialist, accused of manslaughter, because of the statute of limitation.