DUSHANBE, April 16, Asia-Plus  -- Shamsiddin Piri, the head of the capital construction directorate within the Ministry of Health (MoH), and Saidmurod Mahmoudov, a chief accountant within the mentioned directorate, have been detained by officers from the anticorruption agency on suspicion of having been involved in embezzlement of state funds.  

A source at the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption said that the preliminary investigation had established that Piri and Mahmoudov had been involved in embezzlement of 100,000 somonis provided for purchase of equipment for surgical department a the central district hospital in Danghara, Khatlon province.    

85,000 somonis of the embezzled funds have to date been returned, according to the source.    

Criminal proceedings have been instituted on the embezzlement charge.