‘We did receive a letter from Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities. The letter has been registered, so now our priority case investigation department is looking into the application. We have to decide whether to institute criminal proceedings against the region’s Economic Affairs Minister Evgeny Sofrygin, who is suspected of violating the migration law through exceeding Sverdlovsk Region’s foreign workers quota for 2012,’ the official representative of Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Shulga told UrBC.

Meanwhile, the public prosecution authorities have not officially confirmed the fact that they are prosecuting the minister.

Nevertheless, UrBC was informed that the public prosecution authorities were suspecting Sofrygin of illegally adjusting the region’s foreign workers quota and declared this to be an instance of power abuse (Article 286 (part 1) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code). Under this interpretation, the official allegedly reduced the official quota by 32,400 people (down to 27,930 people) of his own accord, which resulted in the regional budget under-receiving nearly 27m RUR worth of state duty payments.