Russia on Wednesday detained coal tycoon Mikhail Fedyayev over regulatory failings at a mine where a blast last month left 51 people dead in an incident that drew ire from President Vladimir Putin.
The Investigative Committee, which is responsible for probing serious crimes, said it had charged Fedyayev, the owner of the SDS-Ugol company, with breaching “industrial safety requirements” and grave “abuse of authority”.
The group’s Listvyazhnaya mine — where dozens of people including miners and rescuers were killed last month — is in the Kemerovo region of Siberia, Russia’s coal heartland.
While the country has seen a number of deadly mine blasts in recent years this was the first time investigators detained the owner of a mine.
Fedyayev, a 59-year-old prominent businessman known to be well-connected politically, will be held in pre-trial detention until February 14, regional prosecutors said.
Three other company employees swept up on the same charges, including SDS-Ugol general director Gennady Alekseyev, are to be detained until at least January 25, they added.
SDS-Ugol is among the country’s largest coal producers and last year Forbes valued Fedyayev’s fortune at $550 million (488 million euros).
His son Pavel is a senior lawmaker with the ruling United Russia party in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma.
– Multiple violations –
Fifty-one people were killed after smoke filled the Listvyazhnaya mine following an apparent gas explosion in late November. It was the deadliest mining explosion in the past decade.
Miners complained of frequent safety violations and said they had been forced to work despite high methane concentrations.
The detentions came a day after Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin met with relatives of the victims and ordered investigators to probe “the role of the mine’s owners”.
Putin this month confronted Fedyayev about safety violations during a televised meeting, asking him whether the board of directors was monitoring safety at the mine or “just counting money?”
The businessman insisted the company never skimped on safety measures and said he was ready to take all responsibility.
General Prosecutor Igor Krasnov confirmed at the meeting multiple violations, saying everything at the site was proper “only on paper”.
The detentions came after investigators initially held the director of the Listvyazhnaya mine, his first deputy and several other people.
Mining accidents are common in Russia as a result of poor safety standards, a lack of oversight of working conditions and ageing Soviet-era equipment.
One of the deadliest mining accidents in recent years occurred at the Raspadskaya mine in Siberia — Russia’s largest coal mine — in the summer of 2010, killing 91 people and leaving more than 100 injured.
