Russian detectives questioned the creative director of two of Russias most popular theaters in connection with a significant embezzlement case, the St.
Petersburg-based news outlet Fontanka reported Wednesday.The investigation centers on supposed financial misconduct throughout the remediation of the Gorky Moscow Art Theatres phase, which was set up to resume in October 2025.
Vladimir Kehman, the creative director of the Gorky Moscow Art Theatre and the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St.
Petersburg, was summoned to the Investigative Committees head office in Moscow and authorities searched his home, Fontanka reported.Kehman is currently categorized as a witness.The case is apparently being led by the Investigative Committee, which probes major criminal activities, and the Interior Ministrys financial security division.The Ostorozhno Novostinews outlet reportedthat the primary entryway to Moscow Art Theatre was closed and that officers associated with the Interior Ministry had sealed parts of the building.Investigators are analyzing the roles of a number of business that won significant restoration agreements under Kehmans management, consisting of RSK-Renaissance, Stroy-Expert and Atlant-Project.
RSK-Renaissance alone was awarded an almost 1-billion-ruble ($13 million) agreement in 2023 for deal with the Moscow Art Theatre.Authorities have actually also expressed interest in the business transactions of Marat Karginov, a professional with ties to projects at numerous theaters Kehman has overseen.Kehman, 56, was designated director of the Gorky Moscow Art Theatre in 2021.
He has been described as one of the most questionable figures in Russian theatre.He formerly served as general and creative director of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre before being firedfor staging a production of Wagners Tannhuser that sparked a protest from the Russian Orthodox Church.A former banana importer as soon as known as Russias Banana King, Kehman developed a fruit empire through his company JFC, which managed a third of the nationwide banana market in the early 2000s.
In 2010, 120 kilograms of cocaine were discovered on a JFC delivery, though Kehman was cleared of any wrongdoing.He was stated insolvent in the United Kingdom in 2012, followed by a Russian insolvency ruling in 2016.
The Bank of Moscow continued to pursue fraud claims versus him in spite of his bankruptcy and brought the case to a London court in 2015.
The court found Kehman had actually secured loans through falsified documents and deceptiveness, purchasing him to pay more than $140 million in damages.In Russia, a five-year probe into the supposed embezzlement of 20 billion rubles (around $256 million) in bank loans expired in 2017 due to the statute of limitations running out.