US pizza maker arrested in Siberia over tax violations

A US citizen was arrested in the Russian city of Novosibirsk on Tuesday on charges of tax evasion by his chain of pizzerias, the Regions.ru web-site reports.

According to the site, the man, whose name was reported as Eric Shorgen was detained together with his Russian aide Yevgeniya Golovkova. They were both charged with concealing monetary funds or property after being presented with a back tax bill. The company has an overall debt of 52 million Russian rubles (over $1.5 million) before sums owed to creditors and own personnel.

Mr. Shorgen has told reporters that his company had accumulated the debts due to the difficult economic situation in Russia.