Russian U.N. diplomat freed on bail (charged w/conspiring w/UN procurement agency)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 11/18/05 | Edith M. Lederer - ap

[NormsRevenge]

UNITED NATIONS - A Russian U.N. official accused of money laundering was released on $500,000 bail posted by his government on Friday, Russia's U.N. Mission said.

Vladimir Kuznetsov, 48, who chaired the powerful U.N. budget oversight committee, had been jailed since Sept. 1 on charges that he conspired with a U.N. procurement officer to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign companies seeking contracts with the world body. He has pleaded innocent to the charges.

Maria Zakharova, press secretary at Russia's U.N. Mission, confirmed that Kuznetsov was freed after the Russian government paid his $500,000 bail.

Moscow is keeping a close eye on the case and is providing Kuznetsov with full consular assistance, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Troyansky told The Associated Press in the Russian capital.

Posting the bail "will help speed up the consideration of his case," Troyansky said.

U.N. officials said the charges against Kuznetsov stem from an internal investigation of another Russian, Alexander Yakovlev, who worked in the U.N. procurement office.

Yakovlev has pleaded guilty to soliciting a bribe from a company seeking a contract under the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq. He also admitted his guilt on wire fraud and money laundering charges for accepting nearly $1 million in bribes from U.N. contractors not related to the oil-for-food program.

Kuznetsov was not accused of any involvement in the oil-for-food scandal.