Construction boss accused of bribing Russian minister as scandal widens
A third man has been detained in a bribery investigation centering on Deputy Russian Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, the Moscow court service said on Thursday.
A third man has been detained in a bribery investigation centering on Deputy Russian Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, the Moscow court service said on Thursday.
The widening scandal is the worst to hit the defense ministry since the start of the war in Ukraine, and has gripped the political and media establishment in the run-up to a government reshuffle that President Vladimir Putin is expected to announce next month.
The court service said Alexander Fomin, the co-founder of a construction company called Olimpsitistroy, was suspected of paying bribes to Ivanov, who was detained on Tuesday, and Sergei Borodin, a close associate of Ivanov who is also in custody.
The court service said Fomin, “being in a relationship of trust with Ivanov”, was suspected of providing free services to him, Borodin and others.
“Also, Fomin and other persons, acting as an organized group, contributed to Ivanov’s receipt of a particularly large bribe in the form of the illegal provision of property-related services to him,” it said.
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