Russian shopping mall ravaged by fire was built illegally, investigators say

MOSCOW. KAZINFORM The shopping center that was recently ravaged by a deadly fire in the Russian city of Kemerovo, Siberia, was built illegally, the Russian Investigative Committee (CIR) said Friday, according to EFE.

The head of the region's construction supervision body Tanzilia Komkova and the director general of the company that owned the mall, Julia Bogdanova, have been arrested in relation to the incident, CIR spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko told local media.

Komkova had allegedly not taken measures to prevent the mall _ which had been built without the proper permits _ from operating, according to Petrenko.

Komkova was suspected of abuse of power, she added.

Seven people have so far been arrested over their alleged roles in the fire that caused 64 deaths on Sunday.

The building housing the "Zimnyaya Vishnya" (Winter Cherry) center was constructed in 1968 as a candy factory, but refurbished as a shopping mall in 2013.

According to investigators, the fire alarm system had been disconnected and the doors to the two cinemas on the fourth floor were closed at the time of the blaze.

The inferno was one of the deadliest blazes in Russia since 2009, when a fire killed 153 people at a nightclub in the city of Perm.