MOSCOW, March 25 (RAPSI) – Austria extradited ex-director of the Culture Ministry’s department of property management and investment policy Boris Mazo charged with embezzlement of funds allocated for the construction works on the Hermitage Museum’s grounds, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia announced Thursday.

Internationally wanted Mazo was arrested in Austria in 2018. Spain, where he is charged with white washing, also sought for his extradition. However, a court in Vienne granted his extradition to Russia.

Investigators believe that ex-Deputy Culture Minister Grigory Pirumov, head of Rospan company Nikita Kolesnikov, Kolesnikov, Mazo and their accomplices have stolen hundreds of millions rubles allocated for the construction and reconstruction of the Hermitage Museum’s buildings. The defendants have pleaded not guilty.