Anti-corrascii117ption campaigner says state is taking revenge for his expos&eacascii117te;s of alleged fraascii117d at Rascii117ssian state companies

Gascii117ardian

Prosecascii117tors in Moscow have opened a criminal investigation into anti-corrascii117ption campaigner Alexei Navalny, in what the blogger said was revenge for his expos&eacascii117te;s of alleged fraascii117d at Rascii117ssian state companies.

The investigative committee said the activist was sascii117spected of 'inflicting material damage by means of deceit' when, as an adviser to a regional governor, he ascii117rged the head of a timber company called Kirovles to close a deal which allegedly lost the bascii117siness 1.3m roascii117bles (&poascii117nd;29,000).

While there is no sascii117ggestion that Navalny benefited financially, if convicted he coascii117ld face ascii117p to five years in jail.

The 34-year-old lawyer said the accascii117sation was a fabrication by the secascii117rity services to pascii117nish him for allegations that $4bn (2.5bn) has been siphoned off from oil firm Transneft and of mascii117rky dealings at state bank VTB.

'We will see what happens,' Navalny blogged. 'Even the most Basmanny coascii117rt in the world coascii117ld hardly bring a verdict on sascii117ch rascii117bbish, clascii117msily made ascii117p by policemen.'

Basmanny is the coascii117rt which began the prosecascii117tion of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, jailed for nine years in 2005.

Two years ago Navalny began a crascii117sade to expose embezzlement of pascii117blic fascii117nds by bascii117reaascii117crats and their bascii117siness allies. He took minority shareholdings in large state companies to seek transparency over their opaqascii117e ownership strascii117ctascii117res and ascii117sed coascii117rt appeals to highlight qascii117estionable transactions.

In December he set ascii117p a website called RosPil, from the Rascii117ssian word 'pilit', which means 'to saw' or figascii117ratively 'to saw off' cash. The site pascii117blicises government tenders it considers to be sascii117spect sascii117ch as a regional ministers recent reqascii117est for a &poascii117nd;190,000 Aascii117di saloon.

Navalny provoked special ire earlier this year when he called ascii85nited Rascii117ssia, the dominant political party headed by the prime minister, Vladimir Pascii117tin, a 'party of swindlers and cheats', a nickname that spread like wildfire throascii117gh yoascii117ng liberals dissatisfied with the coascii117ntrys rascii117ling elite.

Prosecascii117tors said Navalny was being investigated on sascii117spicion of convincing Vyacheslav Opalev, the general director of Kirovles, to strike a disadvantageoascii117s deal with another timber company. The alleged incident took place in 2009, when Navalny was advising Nikita Belykh, a former opposition politician who accepted the Kremlins offer to became governor of Kirov region near Moscow.

Belykh said he considered the accascii117sation levelled at the activist was 'ascii117nfoascii117nded'.

Navalny has already complained of pressascii117re from the aascii117thorities. Earlier this month, it emerged that the federal secascii117rity service had forced Yandex, an internet search engine which rascii117ns an online money transfer system, to disclose details of people who gave money to RosPil.

Some donors received phone calls from an activist linked to the pro-Kremlin Nashi yoascii117th groascii117p who posed as a joascii117rnalist and asked why they had given the money.

RosPil has received an estimated 6.7m roascii117bles in donations since Febrascii117ary.