(Source: http://top.rbc.ru/politics/29/12/2014)

Aleksey Navalny called the charges against himself and his brother absurd. Basmanny Court of Moscow has seized the property of the opposition member Aleksey Navalny and his younger brother Oleg under the investigation of the case on the laundering of funds and fraud during the transportation of goods of the “Yves Rocher” company.

As the press secretary of the Court Natalia Romanova reported to journalists, the arrest was made “as an interim measure” for possible claims for recovering damages. According to her, the arrest affected the “securities in the form of shares of some companies, funds held on accounts in several banks and seized during the searches in the place of residence” of Oleg Navalny. In addition, the share of the authorized capital of Oleg Navalny in “Kobyakovskaya Factory of Willow Weaving” has also been seized.

The press secretary of the Court refused to report which property of Aleksey Navalny has been seized. Earlier Basmanny Court reported that the property of Aleksey Navalny was seized, then it was clarified the seized property belonged only to Oleg. “I don’t know which property was seized - I did not attend the trial on this case, I was not invited, the friendly group of the investigative committee and the judge of Basmanny Court decide everything. We’ll see once we know the sentence” - Aleksey Navalny wrote in his Livejournal blog on Tuesday.

“Absurd accusations”. In late October Aleksey Navalny and his brother Oleg were charged with fraud and laundering of funds in the criminal case on the cosmetics company “Yves Rocher”. The court chose recognizance not to leave as a preventive measure. According to the investigators, Navalny brothers stole more than 26 million roubles (811 thousand US dollars) from the company “Yves Rocher East” and 4 million (130 thousand US dollars) from “Multidisciplinary processing company”. The first of these charges can bring up to 10 years’ imprisonment to the brothers, while the second may lead to only five years in prison. Aleksey Navalny called the accusations absurd. According to investigation data, the younger brother of Aleksey Navalny, Oleg, occupying the post of the deputy director of the branch of “Russian Post” persuaded the company “Yves Rocher East” to conclude a contract for postal services with the company “Top Subscription Agency” created by Aleksey Navalny. According to the investigators, the latter company did not render any transportation services and could not render them, entrusting them to another company managed by a friend of Oleg, and the services rendered by this company cost much less. The investigators claim that they found a similar scheme in the case on “Inter-regional Processing Company”. According to the version of the Investigation Committee of Russia, in 2008 Oleg Navalny persuaded IPC to conclude contracts with his company concerning services of transportation of receipts, forms and other printed products. The investigators think that the services were provided at excessive prices, and, as a result, Navalny brothers did damage to IPC in the amount of 3.8 million roubles.

“The same sewing machine”. At that, the investigation initially stated that Navalny brothers stole 55 million roubles in the case of the “Yves Rocher” company, laundering a part of this amount through the “Kobyakovskaya Factory of Willow Weaving” belonging to the retired parents of Aleksey and Oleg. The share of the authorized capital of Oleg Navalny in this very company was seized by Basmanny Court on Tuesday. The factory produces weaved baskets and garden figures in the form of cats and other animals.

Aleksey Navalny and his attorney compare the case of “Yves Rocher” with that of “Kirovles”. According to the opposition member, “the same sewing machine continues to operate”. According to him, investigators wanted to make themselves safe, initiating the case of “Yves Rocher”, in the event there are problems with the case of “Kirovles”. In mid-October Kirov Regional Court changed the sentence to the opposition member, a defendant in the criminal case on embezzlement at the “Kirovles” enterprise, giving to him and Petr Ofitserov a conditional sentence instead of a real one. Commenting on the court’s verdict, Aleksey Navalny stated that the decisions on the “Kirovles” case are taken personally by Vladimir Putin.