The decision was passed Tuesday with an almost unanimous vote, RIA Novosti reported. A total of 438 out of the chamber’s 450 MPs supported the decision, with only one vote against and one abstention.
The vote was called at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, which is seeking to probe Ponomaryov’s alleged complicity in the 2013 scandal at the Skolkovo Foundation, the Russian state-sponsored center for innovations and technologies.
READ MORE: Skolkovo vice president suspended over graft case
Russian law enforcement agencies discovered that Skolkovo vice president Aleksey Beltyukov had paid Ponomaryov about $750,000 for 10 lectures and one research paper. The MP received the fees but either failed to deliver the promised work completely or executed it very poorly. The politician pleaded not guilty, saying that the fees were fair and proportionate to the amount of work done.
The probe and subsequent court hearings proved these allegations to be true. Beltyukov was suspended and a criminal investigation into his case goes on to this day. Ponomaryov was not prosecuted because of his parliamentary immunity but the court ordered him to return the money.
In mid-2014 Ponomaryov left Russia over fears that Russian bailiffs could ban his exit from the country over an unpaid debt. Since then he has been residing in the United States.
After the media broke the news about the planned vote on Ponomaryov’s immunity, the lawmaker has repeatedly stated that did not intend to return as that would be tantamount to voluntarily going to prison.
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