Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's anti-corruption watchdog has revealed that the family of one of Moscow's deputy mayors owns property worth 6.5 billion rubles ($102.3 million).
A video report issued by the Anti-Corruption Foundation on August 1 says some property owned by Natalia Sergunina's relatives were bought at auctions organized by the Moscow mayor's office where final prices were barely different from the starting prices.
The report says a company controlled by Sergunina's brother-in-law Lazar Safaniyev has managed to buy several historic buildings in the Russian capital and turn them into hotels.
The report also says that Safaniyev is behind off-shore companies that own the Bronnaya Plaza business center on Moscow’s Sadovaya Ring and 40 percent of the Oktyabr cinema theater in downtown Moscow.
Sergunina's sister, Irina Safaniyeva, owns two pavilions in the VDNKh Moscow trade show that house two popular restaurants, the report says.
According to the video, Sergunina is supervising preparations for the elections to the Moscow city council scheduled for September 8.
Opposition politicians and activists have been protesting for weeks against the Moscow election commission's decision to bar some opposition and independent candidates from registration for the election.