Former Russian economy minister jailed for 8 years for taking $2 million bribe

Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky District Court has found former Russian economic development minister Alexey Ulyukaev guilty of accepting bribes, Sputnik correspondent reports from the courtroom.

Former Russian economic development minister Alexey Ulyukaev.

"Defendant Ulyukayev committed bribery while serving as a state official," judge Larisa Semenova said.

Mr. Ulyukaev received a $2 million bribe from the head of Rosneft Corporation Igor Sechin for "actions related to the defendant's duties," which was the document approving Rosneft's deal to acquire Bashneft.

Mr. Ulyukaiv was sentenced to eight years in prison and fined 130 million rubles. The amount of the fine is equivalent to the bribe the defendant received.

The time spent under house arrest will count towards his prison term. Upon his release, Mr. Ulyukayev will not be able to hold any civil office for eight years.

When passing the sentence, the court took into account Ulyukayev's active contributions, raising children and elderly parents, as well as chronic illnesses. Lawyer Larisa Kashtanova told Sputnik that she would appeal the court's ruling.

Ulyukaev is the first Russian federal minister to be charged with corruption. The fact that witness Sechin did not appear in court (the head of Rosneft ignored four summonses) did not prevent the court from passing judgment. The evidence presented was quite sufficient.

Mr. Ulyukayev was appointed as the Minister of Economy of Russia in 2013. Before that, he was Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Russia for 10 years. In November 2016, he was urgently arrested for allegedly receiving a bribe of up to 2 million USD from the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft.

According to Sputnik/VNE