MOSCOW, December 15 - RAPSI. Investigative authorities have completed their investigation into the case of Alexander Slavyansky, a member of an organized group charged with the $39.3 million theft from the Pension Fund, the Interior Ministry's Investigative Department reported on Thursday.

Investigators reported that on November 13, 2009 suspects produced two forged payment orders at a bank in order to steal money from Pension Fund's account. 1.25 billion rubles ($39.3 million) was remitted to a shell company called SpetsTekhProm to its account at the Kuban Bank. Three days later, the money was transferred via six transactions under sham contracts to other banks for companies with accounts in Cyprus.

Slavyansky has been charged with fraud. He is facing up to 10 years in prison.

Earlier his six accomplices were sentenced to various terms in prison, and Slavyansky, who was on the federal wanted list, was arrested in August.

The court declared former police officer Yuri Shcherbakov guilty of masterminding the theft and sentenced him to 6.5 years in prison, Kuban bank employees Alexander Brazhnikov and Svetlana Gorskikh were given five and four years of imprisonment, respectively, Alexander Gladyshev and Kirill Ustinov were punished by 3.5 years in prison, and Vyacheslav Popov - by a three-year term.