MOSCOW, March 24 (RAPSI) – Deputy Minister of Culture Grigory Pirumov on Thursday was officially charged with embezzlement of about 50 million rubles ($739,200) from the state budget, his lawyer Fyodor Kupriyanov told RAPSI.

Pirumov could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Deputy Minister of Culture Grigoriy Pirumov was detained alongside other high-ranking officials, including Boris Mazo, the head of the Ministry Department of property management and investment policies, on suspicion of corruption and embezzling state funds. Oleg Ivanov, the head of a state unitary enterprise for restoration works supervised by the Ministry, Dmitry Sergeyev, the head of BaltStroy, and Nikita Kolesnikov, the head of Savva Corporate Group, were detained as well.

Although as yet the Federal Security Service (FSB) incriminates the suspects the embezzlement of about 50 million rubles, much greater funds may be at stake, according to Kommersant newspaper.

The investigation has presumably started basing on a report by the Auditing Chamber on restoration of the Izborsk Fortress in the Pskov region presented yet in 2013; however, it may also involve such cultural heritage sites as the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow, as well as works carried out at the Ivanovsky Convent in Moscow, and a theater in Pskov.