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Vladivostok’s Prosecutor’s Office has recently launched a criminal case against several city administration officials accusing them of selling the city’s land at knock-down prices. Names, however, were not revealed.

The inspection revealed that city administration officials performed at least 11 sales of the city’s land to enterprises at considerably low prices, a press statement from Primorye’s prosecutor said. The cost of the property had been lowered by sums varying from 500,000 to 10 million rubles. According to the statement, the inappropriate sales resulted in prices understating more than 38 million rubles ($1.5 million).

In addition to illegitimate sales, the city’s prosecutor office is also inspecting cases of illegal rent provided by the administration officials for individuals and their personal construction purposes.

The investigation of the case is supervised by Primorye’s Prosecutor’s Office, the statement said. However, no comments concerning the charged officials or the parties involved in the case have been given by the prosecutors. Some media reports cited sources in the city’s administration who reported about numerous searches of Vladivostok Mayor Vladimir Nikolayev’s office.

The information was not officially confirmed by the city’s administration officials. Deputy Head of Vladivostok Mayor Alexei Kazakov told Vladivostok newspaper reporters that, “All administration officials are performing their duties according to a working schedule.”