MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/. Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky Court has sentenced Russia’s ex-Chief of The Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Alexander Reimer to eight years imprisonment in a corrective labor colony after it had convicted him of embezzlement in the amount 1.3 bln rubles ($22.8 mln) during the purchase of electronic bracelets, TASS reporter said.
The two other accused, Nikolay Krivolapov and Viktor Opredelenov, were sentenced to five years eight months and six years of imprisonment in a collective labor colony respectively.
- Investigators detain Rusnano’s top executive for money fraud
- Moscow court sanctions arrest in absentia for fugitive Communist MP accused of fraud
- Opposition activist Navalny receives 5-year suspended sentence in fraud case
- Putin urges to prevent squandering or direct embezzlement of budget funds
- Criminal case opened over embezzling at Russia’s Vostochny spaceport
The court stripped Reimer of his rank as Colonel General, and Krivolapov, of the rank of Major General. It also fined Reimer 800,000 rubles ($14,057), Krivolapov 600,000 rubles ($10,543) and Opredelenov 700,000 rubles ($12,300).
The case was sent to court based on violations of articles "Abuse of Authority" and "Fraud." During the trial, the public prosecution office dropped the official misconduct charge. According to the public prosecutor, article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Fraud") that the accused are charged with stipulates a penalty for a crime committed by an official.
During the trial, the prosecutor requested the court find Reimer guilty of large-scale embezzlement, sentence him to nine years incarceration in a collective labor colony, fine him 1 million rubles ($17,500) and strip him of his rank as Colonel General and revoke his state awards.
The public prosecutor also requested the court sentence Reimer’s accomplices - FSIN’s Deputy Chief Nikolay Krivolapov and former director of FSIN’s Center for IT Support and Communications Viktor Opredelenov - to six and seven years of imprisonment respectively, with a 800,000 ruble ($14,000) penalty for each of them, as well as stripping Krivolapov of his rank as Major General.
Purchase of electronic bracelets
According to investigators, those accused embezzled over 2.7 billion rubles ($47.4mln) earmarked for the purchase of electronic tagging devices in 2010-2012. Ankle bracelets were acquired at inflated prices. This item’s going price was 19,000 rubles ($333) a piece. However, they were purchased at a marked-up price of 108,000 rubles ($1,894) and mobile gadgets that help monitor defendants outside their homes, were bought an inflated price tag of 128,000 rubles ($2,245).
On June 30, 2016, Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky Court sentenced one of the defendants, entrepreneur Nikolay Martynov, whose firm supplied the bracelets, to three years and eight months behind bars in a corrective labor colony along with a 500,000 ruble ($7,800) penalty.
It was Martynov who, according to investigators, paid Reimer 140 mln rubles ($2.5 mln) in cash for helping to embezzle federal budget money. Due to the fact that the businessman copped a plea bargain and pled guilty to the charges, showed penitence and provided damning evidence, when cooperating with investigators, the court fast-tracked his case.
The now-convicted Reimer had headed the Federal Penitentiary Service from August 2009 to June 2012.