Russian authorities suspects IBM company of business fraud involving also Russian national pension fund and IBM local partners R-Style and Lanit, the Interfax news agency reports.

Russia`s Ministry of Interior claims that a number of high ranking pension officials responsible for conducting tenders for equipment purchases have cooperated with representatives of the commercial companies To embezzle the allotted funds.

On Wednesday, an armed special forces team attached to the ministry swept through IBM’s offices in central Moscow, seizing documents and gathering other evidence. The team members wore masks and carried automatic weapons, according to witnesses.

Police raids carried out on Wednesday in the course of investigation into a $4 million computer equipment kickback scheme did not give any results. No IBM employees were arrested and the status of the computer maker’s head of operations in the country remains unchanged. Russian authorities say they will continue investigation of this case.

An IBM spokesman in Moscow said Thursday that the company’s business operations in the city were continuing uninterrupted, and IBM is fully cooperating with Russian investigators.

It is reported that IBM’s head of operations for Russia and Eastern Europe Kirill Korniliev remains on the job. Yet he needs to fix the situation immediately because Russian region is very important for IMB as both a market for technology and a source of programming talent. Any lasting damage to IBM’s reputation there could prove costly for the company.

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