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Vladivostok Mayor Vladimir Nikolayev was temporarily dismissed from his mayoral position on Wednesday by the city’s prosecutor’s office which is considering a criminal case against Nikolayev on the grounds of abusing his office.

Nikolayev was not present at the court. His lawyer Olga Korovina said he was on a business trip. She did not elaborate the destination.

Korovina said that the prosecutors took decision to temporarily dismiss Nikolayev from his office “to ensure that he was not able to influence his subordinates and make them give falsified evidence during the case hearings."

Korovina added that the prosecutors decided to add to the case three additional protocols including the case of an active supporter who came and shouted slogans in Nikolayev’s favor on Tuesday when the court was considering the case for the first time. The court considered the incident as an attempt to influence the court’s decision.

Korovina said that the second protocol included a description of a threat attempt aimed at the court assistant who sanctioned the search warrant in Nikolayev’s apartment last week. According to the prosecutors, a few days after the search in the mayor’s flat, unknown attackers fired upon the windows of the assistant’s apartment. The court considered the incident as related to the criminal case against Nikolayev, Korovina said. The third document was linked to the absence of Nikolayev’s personal body guard whom the court intended to question but could not find since the man vanished in unknown direction.

The criminal case against Nikolayev was launched last week by Vladivostok’s Prosecutor’s Office, with Nikolayev charged with using funds from the city budget to pay for his personal security detail, a press statement from the office said Tuesday.

According to the statement, Nikolayev spent a total of 4.4 million rubles ($167,939) on police bodyguards whom he paid to accompany him during everyday trips. The inspection stated that neither Nikolayev nor the city’s documents he was carrying with him needed special protection.

Among other misusages of the budget by Nikolayev were expenditures for personal bodyguards and private flights to Seoul, S. Korea, paid from the funds of the city’s administration, the statement said.

The inspection held by Vladivostok’s Prosecutor’s Office of the mayoral office also revealed that the city administration had inappropriately sold city land to enterprises at knock-down prices, with the sales resulting in prices understating more than 38 million rubles ($1.5 million).

A group of 40 federal investigators performed the inspection of the mayoral office over the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday Nikolayev made a statement to city residents calling the criminal investigation into his activities a “planned action”. “The investigators were tasked with bringing a criminal action in any case, using any reason,” the statement on the city’s administration site said.

“The reason for such actions is the administration’s exact position on various issues, including the city’s status and land costs. I will not back down despite all provocations and I will not betray my views,” the statement cited Nikolayev as saying.

Nikolayev’s supporters, elderly women mostly, came to the building of the city’s court on Wednesday to wait for the decision. “He is so young and energetic, we like him much,” one of the women, Taisiya Novikova said. “Of course he might make mistakes but they [officials] all make them,” she said defending Nikolayev.

Later Nikolayev’s supporters tried to stage a protest against criminal charges against the mayor but were quickly dissolved by police. Novikova was personally warned not to interfere and left the scene after a talk with a police officer. Other supporters, about 50 of them, left the scene soon after.

As of Wednesday evening no official information was released announcing a possible candidate to perform mayor’s duties during the investigation and Nikolayev’s dismissal. News reports speculated that Nikolayev’s first deputy Yury Koren might be appointed to perform the duties.