MOSCOW, Sep 5 (PRIME) -- Former Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev demanded a U.S. $2 million bribe from oil major Rosneft’s CEO Igor Sechin threatening to impede operations of the company, a public prosecutor said on Tuesday quoting a statement of former Rosneft Vice President Oleg Feoktistov.
Ulyukayev, the first government official arrested on suspicions of corruption, can face 15 years in prison if his guilt is proved. He pleaded not guilty in August and said it was a setup organized by Sechin and the Federal Security Service.
“The statement that was sent to (Federal Security Service’s Director Alexander) Bortnikov on illegal activity of Economic Development Minister Ulyukayev, on his extortion of $2 million for approval of a Bashneft privatization deal,” the prosecutor said.
Yuliya Moskvina, a leading analyst of the ministry’s corporate management department, said during the investigation that Ulyukayev personally amended the materials for a Bashneft auction, “and he was the initiator of exclusion of Rosneft from the list of contenders for Bashneft,” she said, adding that the minister issued no ruling to prolong privatization.
Materials of the case say that Ulyukayev received the bribe in $100 notes in a case personally from Sechin. During his arrest, Ulyukayev told officers of the Federal Security Service that he had received wine from Sechin, but officers found traces of a special luminescent substance applied on the banknotes on the hands of both Ulyukayev and his driver.
Materials of the case say that the driver touched only the handle of the case.
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