MOSCOW, December 3 - RAPSI. The jurors found Tatyana Naydenova, the former head of the Ministry of State Property's department, and her assistant Vladimir Polyutov guilty of abuse of power, leading to lossess of more than 2.5 billion rubles ($81 million), Kommersant daily reported on Monday.

"Both of them have been charged with abuse of powers in 2004, during the privatization of Stankoimport, a flagship Soviet foreign trading company," the daily reads.

The jury also ruled that the defendants deserved leniency.

Investigators believe that in 2004 Naydenova approved the list of Stankoimport's assets subject to privatization, unlawfully adding to it the securities of 19 foreign companies set up at the expense of Russia. She also appointed Polyutov as the board chairman of Stankoimport.

On the same day, Polyutov signed an act pursuant to which the shares of the aforementioned companies assessed at 897,700 rubles ($29,100) were included in Stankoimport's capital, while their actual market price amounted to more than 2.5 billion rubles ($81 million).

"The legal consequences of the jury's verdict will be discussed tomorrow at the Moscow City Court, after that the judge will recess to deliberate over the pronouncement of the sentence," the daily reports.

Abuse of powers is punishable by up to ten years in prison, according to the law.