MOSCOW, November 20 (Itar-Tass) — The Investigative Committee /SK/ is looking for the persons from the Emergency Situations Ministry /EMERCOM/ who took bribes from the former director of the Ministry's branch in the Zabaikalye Territory.
Earlier in the day, the Zabaikalye Territory court sentenced former director of the regional department of the Emergency Situations Ministry /EMERCOM/ Maj-Gen Vyacheslav Korolkov to four years in prison and a 5.8-million-rouble fine for bribery.
"Korolkov will serve his sentence in a maximum security penitentiary. He was also stripped of his military rank," Yegor Markov, a representative of the Court, told Itar-Tass.
The court found the official guilty of taking bribes, abusing his authority and fraud.
In September 2007, Korolkov set up an organized criminal group at his department. It included his deputy for finance Vladimir Yermakov and chief accountant Lyubov Izmailova.
From December 2007 through December 2011, the group issued orders to grant unjustified high bonuses to 62 personnel from among their trusted persons, in the amount of 13,000 roubles to 275,000 roubles. The criminal group charged for its patronage up to 80 percent of the sum of the bonus, thus collecting more than 14 million roubles.
During this period, Korolkov, Yermakov and Izmailova spent 5.5 million roubles of this sum on the reception of the EMERCOM inspectors who had come to check the operation of the Ministry's branch, expensive office renovation projects and office furniture and equipment. The group used the remaining nine million roubles at discretion.
The criminal cases against two other members of the group made separate proceedings. Yermakov and Izmailova were given six-year suspended sentences and fined one million roubles each.
"On top of that, Korolkov issued illegal conclusions on conformity of several buildings of the Chita State University to fire safety requirements in 2008. In exchange, the university administration met his request to entitle his son to free-of-charge tuition. Therefore, he received a bribe worth 140,000 roubles," the SK said.
"In 2010, the EMERCOM official issued a decree to give a job at his department to an acquaintance of his, a Moscow resident. Although the latter did not perform his duties and did not turn up in the Baikal region, he received monthly wages and had his travelling expenses paid by EMERCOM. This scheme lost the budget 694,300 roubles.
The court banned Korolkov from taking executive jobs for three years after serving his sentence. His Toyota Land Cruiser and the parking place have been confiscated.
"The materials of the criminal case over bribery against EMECOM officials were investigated separately in June 2012, and passed to the investigative bodies in the Moscow region and the Krasnoyarsk territory. According to preliminary estimates, Korolkov gave EMERCOM officials at least 1.2 million roubles of bribes," the SK said.