Former Minister of Economic Development of Russia Receives Eight Years of High Security

Photo: Twitter Sergey Goryashko

The court found the former Minister of Economic Development of Russia Alexey Ulyukaev guilty of accepting a bribe of $2 million from the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin and sentenced him to 8 years in prison and a fine of 130 million rubles ($2,2 million). The prosecutor's office asked for 10 years and a fine of 500 million rubles ($8,5 million) for Ulyukaev.

As he writes"Rain", Ulyukaev will serve his sentence in a maximum security colony. Eight years is the minimum term of imprisonment provided for such a crime by the criminal code. The court considered mitigating circumstances that Ulyukaev suffers from chronic diseases, he has two young children and dependent parents.

Ulyukaev called the verdict unfair, but emphasized that he “continues to hope.”

Ulyukaev's lawyer Darejan Kveidze said that the verdict will be appealed. Prosecutor Boris Neporozhny, in turn, said that the sentence corresponds to the gravity of the crime: “We see no grounds for appeal.”

According to the prosecution, on November 14, 2016, Ulyukaev arrived at the Rosneft office and received a bag with $2 million from the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin. This money, prosecutors argued, was a bribe for the ministry’s positive response to the privatization of a stake in Bashneft. It was noted that Ulyukaev demanded $2 million from Sechin while on a business trip to Goa for the BRICS summit on October 15, 2016.

Ulyukayev himself claimed that he did not know that there was money in the bag, and insisted that he was innocent.

Sechin spoke about extorting a bribe in his testimony. The court summoned him for questioning 4 times, but the head of Rosneft did not appear at the trial. General Oleg Feoktistov, the former deputy head of the FSB's Internal Security Directorate, testified in court. During interrogation, he said that he received money for a bribe to Ulyukaev in the amount of two million dollars from a “private investor” who is a “good friend” of Feoktistov.

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