Regional Raiders Ignore Medvedev's Message.

(From The Moscow Times)

Tax and sanitary inspectors have never found anything irregular during their visits to Agrofirma Engels, but that hasn't stopped them from dropping hints to director Nikolai Motsny that the authorities of the Saratov region city of Engels would like a chunk of the firm.

Motsny's son Igor, a prominent Moscow lawyer, said his father has cancer and wants to sell his interest in the medium-size business. The problem is that the people trying to get it want him to hand it over for free.

Nikolai Motsny, 60, ignored their hints until May 17, when the police stopped and searched his car, during which they said they found a pistol, ammunition and empty cartridges.

They opened a criminal investigation and only released him after he signed an agreement not to leave the region.

The search came two days before Motsny was to leave for a Moscow hospital to undergo cancer treatment.

"My father has health problems, and the raiders know about it," Igor Motsny said. "They want to put pressure on him so his health gets worse and he gives up his business easily."