Russian Economic Minister Alexey Ulyukaev is under investigation for allegedly taking bribes
The Investigative Committee initiated a criminal investigation against the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Alexey Ulyukaev about allegedly receiving a $2 million bribe. The Committee reported that the criminal case relates to the Rosneft deal involving the purchase of the state-owned block of shares of Bashneft Oil Company.
The Ministry of Economic Development should have concluded the contract. “It is about extortion of bribes from the representatives of Rosneft in conjunction with threats,” the acting Head of the Investigative Committee’s Department on Interaction with Mass Media, Svetlana Petrenko explained. According to her, the Minister was caught in flagrante delicto during receipt of a bribe amounting to $2 million.
RIA Novosti’s source in law enforcement said that Ulyukaev has been under observation by the Federal Security Service for more than a year. It is unknown whether he was initially suspected of receiving bribes.
Another RIA Novosti source explained that security servicemen conducted an investigation after wire-tapping telephone conversations between the Minister and the people from his inner circle. Currently, investigators are preparing to bring formal charges against Ulyukaev. After that, they will apply to the court with a motion to detain the Minister.
The Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, has discussed Ulyukaev’s detention with Russian President Vladimir Putin and favored conducting a thorough investigation, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers reported.
The Press Secretary for the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov stated that the Putin had been aware of the situation since the beginning of operational investigative activities towards Ulyukaev.
“Of course, the President was informed. Vladimir Putin was aware of the situation. Putin was informed at the beginning of operational investigative activities. I mean, the President received all information. However, I repeat once again, as I have said, these are very serious accusations and only the court can issue a verdict on the validity of these accusations,” Peskov stated.
In response to the question of whether revising the Bashneft deal would be possible, Peskov said that he doesn’t know.
The representative of Rosneft stated that the company bought shares of Bashneft in accordance with Russian legislation. The representative refused to comment on the actions of investigators.
“Rosneft doesn’t comment on the actions of the Investigative Committee. The block of shares of Bashneft was purchased in accordance with Russian legislation on the basis of the best commercial proposal made to the bank-operator,” the representative of the oil company said. In October, Rosneft bought 50.0755% of Bashneft’s shares for 329.7 billion Rubles
On October 12, speaking at the Investment Forum “Russia Calling,” Vladimir Putin stated that he was a little surprised by the decision of the government to allow Rosneft to participate in the privatization of Bashneft but that it was really the position of the Russian government’s financial and economic unit. Putin revealed that the amount Rosneft paid for the state-owned block of Bashneft shares is slightly higher than assessments made by independent experts.
“Why can Rosneft afford to do that and why don’t the representatives of the State in the company consider this decision to be flawed for the company? Because the so-called synergistic effect occurs in Rosneft after the purchase of Bashneft and the further sale of a big block of shares at 19.5%. It means that the value of the 19.5% owned by Rosneft grows substantially,” Putin noted.
“Thus, Rosneft has an opportunity not only to recover, forgive me for bad manners, that small cash prize that Rosneft gives to the government when purchasing Bashneft but also to sell its own block of shares profitably,” the President concluded.