Yaroslavl Region investigating bodies of the Russia’s Investigative Committee have finished investigating a criminal case against former judge of Yaroslavl Region commercial court Ivan Menko charged with 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 commercial court and since January 2012 was a chairman of the first composition of judges. In June 2013, the accused 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.
Menko was released on recognizance. The investigators have gathered enough evidence so the case with the approved indictment has been sent to court to be tried on the merits.
Yaroslavl Region investigating bodies are also taking measures to finish investigation against Konstantin Sonin. The businessman was charged with a crime under part 5 of article 291 of the RF Penal Code (giving a bribe to an official via a middleman on a very large scale). He also was released on recognizance.
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