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Moscow court arrests US citizen for bribery mediation

The main defendant in this case is former aide to then-Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, Anastasia Alekseeva
Moscow's Basmanny Court Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
Moscow's Basmanny Court
© Alexander Shcherbak/TASS

MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. Moscow’s Basmanny Court has arrested US citizen Gene Spektor on suspicion of bribery mediation, TASS reports from court.

"The court has ruled to satisfy the appeal of the prosecution and to place Mr. Spektor at a detention facility for a period of two months, until April 19," the judge stated.

The defense asked the court to place Spektor under house arrest or release him on 5-mln-rouble (about $77,900) bail.

The main defendant in this case is former aide to then-Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, Anastasia Alekseeva. The court has ruled to arrest the latter for two months on bribery charges, TASS reports from the courtroom.

"The court has ruled to satisfy the appeal of the prosecution and to place Ms. Alekseeva at a detention facility for a period of two months, until April 19," the judge announced.

Alekseeva did not comment on the details of the case. She had previously asked the court to place her under house arrest. The ruling can be appealed.

The prosecution informed during a court session on Thursday that Vadim Belonozhko, an aide to the director general of R-Pharm, and Maksim Yakushkin, corporate director of Promomed DM and former director general of Promomed Rus, are among the suspects in the case.

According to the prosecution, in the period from 2015 to 2016, Alekseeva accepted a bribe from Yakushkin to the tune of over 4 mln roubles (about $62,400) in the form of a paid trip to Thailand in January 2016 and to the Dominican Republic in May 2016. In both cases, the trips cost 2 mln roubles (about $31,200) each. In this period, Alekseeva was serving as an aide to former Russian Deputy PM Arkady Dvorkovich.

In November 2018, RBK informed that Alekseeva was fired from the office of Anton Siluanov, who served as First Deputy PM at the time, for leaking internal correspondence to the media.

Gene Spektor is an entrepreneur who patented a cancer treatment medication in Russia.