The Mariinsky Theater scandal took a new twist last week as theater sources said one of the central figures in the bribe-taking fiasco was back in town.
An unnamed source close to the theater said Canadian impresario John Cripton, who was caught on videotape passing $10,000 to then-theater director Anatoly Malkov, was in town answering police questions.
Police refused to comment, as did Mariinsky Theater director Yuri Schwarzkopf.
However, Mr Schwarzkopf did comment on the reports of a million-dollar contract Mr Cripton offered to the Mariinsky.
Mr Schwarzkopf on Thursday refused to sign the contract, which would have provided for the staging of 26 plays in Brazil. It was worth $6 million.
Mr Schwarzkopf was reported as saying that his decision not to sign was motivated by the fact that the Canadian impresario had ruined the name of the theater, and he would consider the contract only if Mr Cripton's name was not on it.
Mr Cripton then reportedly completed the contract under his wife's name. Sources say Mr Schwarzkopf asked for five days to decide on the contract.
Mr Schwarzkopf was quoted as saying he would not sign any sort of contract with Mr Cripton.
"By my own initiative, I will sign no contract with Mr Cripton," he was quoted as saying. "He brought enormous damage onto the interests of the Mariinsky Theater."
The St Petersburg city prosecutor had sent Canadian police on an international assignment to bring Mr Cripton to Russia for interrogation, but Mr Cripton apparently decided not to wait for extradition and came to Russia on his own initiative.
Mr Schwarzkopf was reported as saying he had only two documents signed by Mr Cripton and Mr Malkov, regarding the staging of "The Nutcracker" in Japan and the organization of an international tour later this year.
He said the other documents were confiscated by the police.
The scandal erupted last October when Mr Malkov and head choreographer Oleg Vinogradov were detained on suspicion of taking bribes from Mr Cripton.
Mr Cripton is the head of Great World Artists, which has organized foreign tours for the Mariinsky for nine years.
In an interview published in the Los Angeles Times, Mr Cripton confirmed that he gave the $10,000 to Mr Malkov in league with the police.
He said he took the action after he became convinced that large sums of hard currency being handed to the management were not being distributed fairly among the theater's dancers.
He said he connected the decline in the Mariinsky's international popularity to scandals surrounding it in recent years.
"I helped them [the police] to obtain very strong evidence against the leadership of the theater and the fact the police didn't use it properly says a lot about the weakness of the legislative system," he said.
Mr Malkov admitted he took the money, but said it was not a bribe.
"I recognize that taking the money as a bonus for the excellent organization of previous foreign tours was a mistake," Mr Malkov said soon after he was first detained for questioning.