“A 3rd man has been detained in a bribery case involving certainly one of Russia’s highest protection officers,” Moscow’s judicial service mentioned on April 25.
He mentioned businessman Alexander Fomin is suspected of paying bribes to Deputy Protection Minister Timur Ivanov, who was detained on April 24, in addition to Ivanov’s accomplice Sergei Borodin. All males will stay in custody till not less than June 23.
“It’s uncommon for such a high-ranking official to be charged with against the law in Russia. Mr. Ivanov, an ally of Protection Minister Sergei Shoigu, was jailed pending investigation and trial on bribery costs,” judicial officers mentioned in a press release. He was answerable for army development initiatives and was beforehand accused of main a lavish way of life in anti-corruption investigations by the workforce of late Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny. It’s unclear what prompted the choice to cost him with bribery.
Ivanov (48) was sanctioned by each the US and the European Union in 2022 after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, mentioned on April 24 that development initiatives overseen by Ivanov will proceed.
Moscow’s judicial service mentioned Alexander and Borodin contributed to Ivanov receiving a “notably giant bribe,” against the law punishable by as much as 15 years in jail. As a part of the case towards Alexander and the deputy minister, the judicial service added that Alexander didn’t not pay for items, works and companies associated to the restore and reconstruction of buildings.
Russian state information company tass reported on Wednesday {that a} Moscow businessman whose firm is devoted to development gave testimony that incriminated the Deputy Minister of Protection. tass He didn’t title the one who offered the proof, however public data and Russian newspapers say Alexander Fomin owns half of the corporate, known as Olimpsitistroy.
In 2021, Ivanov awarded Alexander and the co-owner of Olimpsitistroy a state award known as For Benefit to the Fatherland for the development of medical facilities, the Russian newspaper reviews. Kommersant reported.
In response to a courtroom assertion on Wednesday, investigators instructed the choose that Ivanov conspired with third events to obtain a bribe within the type of unspecified actual property companies “in the course of the procurement and subcontracting of labor for the wants of the Ministry of Protection.”
Ivanov’s lawyer, Murad Musayev, instructed the state information company tass Wednesday that his consumer is accused of “accepting a bribe within the type of free development and restore work on supposedly his private property” and, in flip, offering “help to corporations that had been contractors of the Ministry of Protection.”
One other lawyer, Denis Baluyev, was quoted by the state information company. RIA Novosti as if to say that Mr. Ivanov maintains his innocence. Mr. Baluev mentioned RIA Novosti on Thursday that authorities froze Mr. Ivanov’s financial institution accounts and seized his actual property.
In response to the Protection Ministry web site, Ivanov was appointed in 2016 by presidential decree. He oversaw property administration, housing and medical assist for the army, in addition to development initiatives.
RIA Novosti It quoted Peskov as saying that Shoigu and Putin had been knowledgeable of Ivanov’s arrest, which comes as Moscow’s struggle in Ukraine strikes into its third yr.
Unbiased Russian media reported on Wednesday that the bribery costs had been aimed toward overlaying up extra severe costs of treason and avoiding scandal, citing two unnamed sources near the Federal Safety Service (FSB).
Peskov dismissed the suggestion, describing the reviews as hypothesis. “There are lots of rumors. We have to belief official data,” he instructed reporters. Musayev, Ivanov’s lawyer, additionally denied some other costs and mentioned RIA Novosti that Mr. Ivanov solely confronted bribery costs.
Earlier than his arrest, Mr. Ivanov was seen attending a gathering with Mr. Shoigu and different senior army officers. The transfer towards Ivanov got here virtually a month after Putin requested the FSB to “preserve a systemic anti-corruption effort” and pay particular consideration to state protection procurement.
Russian media reported that Ivanov supervised a number of the development in Mariupol, a Ukrainian port metropolis that was devastated by bombing and occupied by Russian forces in the beginning of the struggle.
ZvezdaThe official tv channel of the Russian army, reported in the summertime of 2022 that the Ministry was developing a complete residential block in Mariupol and confirmed Mr. Ivanov inspecting development websites and newly constructed buildings.
That very same yr, opposition chief Navalny’s workforce alleged that Ivanov and his household had been having fun with lavish journeys overseas, lavish events and elite actual property. Activists additionally alleged that Ivanov’s spouse, Svetlana, divorced him in 2022 to keep away from sanctions and continued to stay a lavish way of life. Few high-level officers have been prosecuted in Russia.
In April 2023, former Deputy Tradition Minister Olga Yarilova was arrested and charged with embezzling greater than 200 million rubles ($2.2 million). Olga, who held the place from 2018 to 2022, is on trial and faces a doable seven-year jail sentence.
Former Financial system Minister Alexei Ulyukayev acquired an eight-year jail sentence in 2017 for accepting a $2 million bribe from certainly one of Putin’s prime associates. The high-profile trial was extensively seen as a part of infighting between Kremlin clans. Ulyukayev, now 68, was granted early launch from jail in Might 2022.
