Former Supreme Court judge Viktor Momotov. Photo: Podyom

Fresh charges for prostitution and large-scale tax evasion have been added to an ongoing criminal case against a former judge on Russia’s Supreme Court, state-affiliated business news outlet RBC reported on Wednesday.

Outlining the charges against Viktor Momotov, the Prosecutor General’s Office said that the Marton hotel chain, which was run by Momotov and his co-accused, businessman Andrey Marchenko, was used to facilitate illegal sex work.

“Momotov used his status and inviolability to hide assets, and there was plenty to hide. In addition to the hotels themselves, there were also illegal activities, namely sex work, with rooms that could be rented by the hour and saunas,” the prosecutor said.

Momotov was also charged with artificially splitting up the businesses into smaller companies to evade tax, which he did to the tune of over 500 million rubles (€5.3 million), RBC added.

The prosecutor also alleged that Momotov’s appointment to the Supreme Court had been facilitated by another judge, Alexander Chernov, from whom assets worth 13 billion rubles (€137.2 million) were confiscated by law enforcement in August. Momotov “had no experience in the judicial system or law enforcement” when he was appointed a Supreme Court judge, RBC quoted the prosecutor as saying.

Last month, the Prosecutor General’s Office demanded that over 100 items of real estate be seized from Momotov, the majority of which, it alleged, were stolen assets now belonging to the Marton hotel chain. Momotov previously told RBC that the lawsuit against him was slanderous.