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A court has recognized the evidence gathered by the Sverdlovsk Region investigating bodies of the Russia’s Investigative Committee sufficient to convict deputy head of the Sverdlovsk Region Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Marina Pushkaryova, 47, a specialist of the Sverdlovsk Region Office for Capital Construction tatyana Ekkert, 29 and a resident of Yekaterinburg Aleksey Kuznetsov, 34.

Depending on the role of each one, they were found guilty of crimes under part 2 of article 290 of the RF Penal Code (taking a bribe on a very large scale by an official through an intermediary), paragraph “c” of part 5 of article 290 (taking a bribe on a very large scale by an official through an intermediary), paragraphs “a” and “b” of part 3 of article 291.1 (intermediacy in bribery committed by a group of people under previous conspiracy on a large scale), paragraph “b” of part 4 of article 291 (giving a bribe to an official on a large scale) and part 2 of article 291 (giving a bribe to an official on a large scale).

The court and investigators have found that the said crimes were committed in October and December 2013. One of the accomplices deputy head of the Sverdlovsk Region Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Marina Pushkaryova, who was also chairperson of the commission for the control of placing orders by holding close tenders was repeatedly contacted (in person and through a middleman) by other defendants offering fee for assisting in making the commission to make decisions in favor of these or that firms that took part in tenders on design and construction.

The official agreed and received cash bribes through her accomplices and in general executed her duties. In all, in four counts the official is accused of she received over 1.5 million rubles.

After the law enforcement bodies had got information on wrongdoings of the high-ranking official, officers of the regional office of the Federal Security Service planned and on 13 Decmeber 2013 executed a special operation of detaining the official immediately after she had taken the bribe. Later the whole chain of the accomplices was unveiled thanks to coherent and efficient actions of the officials of the Investigative Committee and regional office of the Federal Security Service.

During the probe the high-ranking official was placed in custody pending trial.

The court has sentenced Pushkaryova to 10 years to be served in a minimum-security penal colony and banned her from occupying certain positions during 3 years. Ekkert got 7.5 years to be served in a minimum-security penal colony. Kuznetsov received 8 years to be served in a maximum-security penal colony. Each of them will have to pay 55 million rubles in fines.

It should be noted that earlier one of the said accomplices – a former chief specialist of legal work office of the Sverdlovsk Region State Procurement Department has been convicted of a crime under paragraphs “a” and “b” of part 3 of article 291.1 (intermediacy in bribery committed by a group of people under previous conspiracy on a large scale). The investigators and court revealed that in October and December 2013 the defendant along with other persons acted as an intermediary in passing a cash bribe of 900 thousand rubles to Puzhkaryova. The bribe was meant for assisting in making the commission to make decisions in favor of a firm that had taken part in a tender on design and construction of social institution in the town of Beryozovsky. The defendant had pled guilty, assisted the investigation and made a cooperation deal with the investigators. She received a suspended sentence of 4 years.