**The Embezzlement of Transneft Funds Prompted Searches in Moscow **Moscow. December 22. INTERFAX.RU - Searches are being carried out in Moscow as part of a criminal investigation into the theft of funds belonging to Transneft during the construction of the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline, a law enforcement source told Interfax on Wednesday. According to the agency's source, the searches are taking place at one commercial bank, as well as at the private homes of several suspects in the criminal case. He emphasized that the criminal case over the theft of Transneft's funds "was opened back in 2008, long before the scandalous publication by blogger Alexei Navalny." Interfax does not yet have official confirmation of this information. ///////// Our police (and the authorities in general) are very concerned that "blogger Alexei Navalny" should not, God forbid, claim any extra credit in the Transneft case. Just investigate it, guys. What matters is the investigation, not the credit. I know perfectly well that cases were opened even before I started working on this. They couldn't not open them — the theft was just too massive and too brazen. I don't know what's going on there now, and I fully admit that it may have nothing to do with our activity. Just investigate something, at least.
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