The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia has launched a probe into judge of the Anapa District Court of Krasnodar Territory Vladimir Starodubtsev. He is suspected of committing an offense under Part 3 of Article 30, Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of Russia (attempted swindling on a large scale).

According to the investigation, from December 2018 to February 2019, the suspect together with his son Alexander Starodubtsev and one Gennady Eremenko had demanded 64 million rubles, allegedly in order to hand it over to judges of the Krasnodar Territory Court as a bribe for ruling over an administrative probe involving the victim as a representative of interests of owners of disputed land plots.

In February 2019, the illegal activities of the judge and his accomplices were disrupted by officers of the Federal Security Service of Russia during handing over of 100,000 rubles and fake 29,9 million rubles at the place of his residence.

Due to long procedure of obtaining permission from the Krasnodar Regional Judges’ Qualifications Board, the probe into Starodubtsev was launched in October 2019.

Starodubtsev was arrested. In the nearest future, the investigation will ask the court to rule for his detention.

The probe into Alexander Starodubtsev and Gennady Eremenko was launched earlier; the investigation is ongoing.

 

Official spokesperson for the Investigative Committee of Russia S. Petrenko