Housing officials in Moscow have been accused of embezzling money from the city budget by using invisible ink on contracts in an incident being held up by Kremlin critics as evidence of a deep-seated culture of corruption.
A video posted to social media by Yelena Selkova, an independent councillor, showed how the figures on the contract for installing a new lift in a residential block vanished when it was held to a flame. The work was officially valued at 2.6 million roubles (£29,000).
Ms Selkova, 43, said it was likely that officials at the government agency responsible for housing repairs had planned to erase the sum and replace it with a new, much higher figure after it had been approved by councillors. “They would have