Police detain an Interior Ministry IT designer at an exhibition that was also attended by the head of the Interior Ministry

On October 17, police detained Andrey Nechayev, the chief designer of the Russian Interior Ministry’s IT system, at an exhibition, where he was supposed to speak along with Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, sources told the newspaper Kommersant. On October 18, Nechayev was formally placed under arrest, on charges of abusing his authority.

The case against Nechayev is reportedly tied to the Interior Ministry’s IT system, which he helped create. The system is a mix of software and hardware operating in multiple departments of the ministry. The government spent 1.5 billion rubles ($26 million) creating the system, but investigators say Nechayev and his still unnamed accomplices may have received sizeable kickbacks from contractors.