16 May 2019 12:50

FSB Col. Cherkalin charged with taking $850,000 bribe - court

MOSCOW. May 16 (Interfax) - Federal Security Service (FSB) Col. Kirill Cherkalin has been charged with taking a $850,000 bribe.

"Investigators have accused Cherkalin of taking a $850,000 bribe from citizen Nazarov in the city of Moscow in the period from November 2013 until February 2015 in exchange for his activity and inactivity to the benefit of the briber and a commercial company, as well as for his patronage," the Moscow District Military Court said on Thursday, citing materials in the proceeding. The court is hearing the appeal against the officer's arrest.

The equivalent of the bribe in rubles exceeds 52 million, according to materials in the proceeding.

Cherkalin's lawyer Sergei Karpukhin asked the Moscow District Military Court to overrule the order of the first-instance court, which put his client under a two-month arrest.

The FSB public relations center reported Cherkalin's detention on April 25. Later that day, the 235th Garrison Military Court put him under arrest.

According to the media, Cherkalin was an employee of the FSB Economic Crime Directorate dealing with the banking sector. He was implicated in taking a large bribe.

Two former FSB officers, Dmitry Frolov and Andrei Vasilyev, were detained together with Cherkalin. The Moscow Basmanny District Court put them under arrest on counts of fraud.

According to the case materials; "In 2011, while serving as an officer of the FSB [Federal Security Service] of Russia, [Dmitry] Frolov participated in an organized criminal group, thus abusing his office and the authority of positions he held. He misled Mr. Glyadelkin, telling him that he might face criminal liability, which would jeopardize the implementation of investment projects in housing development in Moscow."

Eventually, the organized criminal group of which Frolov was a member obtained the share in the charter capital of a business corporation belonging to the aforesaid victim, thus embezzling at least 490 million rubles from him, the investigators said.

According to materials in the proceeding, the police department of the Moscow Central Administrative District opened the case in July 2018 on counts of abuse of office. The case was handed over to the Russian Investigative Committee in February 2019.

Frolov and Vasilyev pleaded not guilty.