MOSCOW, May 4 (RAPSI) – The Savelovsky District Court of Moscow has sentenced ex-manager of the Center of Drama and Direction Dmitry Palaguta to 5 years in prison for embezzlement of 5.5 million rubles (about $90,000), according to the statement released on the website of Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

Additionally, Palaguta has been fined 1 million rubles ($16,000), the statement reads.

His former deputies Yelena Maksimova and Tatyana Andrianova were also convicted in the case. Maksimova was given 2.5 years in prison while Andrianova received a 1.5-year suspended sentence.

The court found that Palaguta, Maksimova and Andrianova conspired to embezzle budget funds by deceiving the management of Moscow’s Department of Culture. The defendants provided employment assistance to people intending to work in the theater and after execution of labor agreements they demanded to give them salary bank cards and PIN numbers. Afterwards, the defendants told the people that they need not to come to work. From November 2013 to May 2016, they embezzled over 5.5 million rubles, according to the statement of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The Center of Drama and Direction was founded in Moscow in 1998. Several famous Russian directors including Kirill Serebrennikov, who is currently a defendant in a high-profile embezzlement case, debuted in this theater.