The Chairman of the Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against former judge if Yaroslavl Region commercial court Ivan Menko suspected of a crime under paragraph “c” of part 5 of article 290 of the RF Penal Code (taking a bribe on a large scale) and part 6 of article 290 (taking a bribe on a very large scale).
According to investigators, since November 2009 Menko served as a judge of Yaroslavl Region court of arbitration and since January 2012 was a chairman of the first composition of judges. In June 2013, the suspect received via a middleman a cash bribe of 5 thousand US dollars and a bottle of cognac worth 30 thousand rubles for taking in proceeding a case over declaring bankruptcy of a housing construction cooperative and finishing the case in the shortest possible time. In April 2014, Menko via an intermediary took a bribe of 2 million rubles from a local businessman Konstantin Sonin for refusing plaintiff’s claims made by a local company to Sonin and companies he controlled. In addition, the businessman gave to the intermediary 400 thousand rubles as a fee for the job done.
The Yaroslavl Region qualification panel of judges dismissed Ivan Menko from his office on 15 May 2014. On 30 January 2015, the Russian Supreme Qualification Panel of Judges agreed on opening a criminal investigation against Menko. The Investigative Committee ordered the Head of the Yaroslavl Region Investigations Directorate to conduct the preliminary investigation.
The criminal investigation against Konstantin Sonin is also continued. The Yaroslavl Region investigating bodies have charged the businessman with a crime under part 5 of article 291 of the RF Penal Code (bribery of an official on a very large scale). The accused was released on recognizance.
Head of Media Relations V.I. Markin
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