26 Jul 2018 14:13

Court sentences ex-deputy chief of Russian Investigative Committee Internal Security Directorate Lamonov to 5 years in prison for bribery

MOSCOW. July 26 (Interfax) - The Moscow City Court gas sentenced former deputy chief of the Russian Investigative Committee Internal Security Directorate Alexander Lamonov to five years in a strict security penitentiary for accepting a bribe.

"The court resolved to find Lamonov guilty of committing a crime covered by Part 6, Article 290 of the Russian Criminal Code (acceptance of an especially large bribe) and sentence him to five years in a strict security correctional facility," Judge Andrei Suvorov read from the ruling.

The court also imposed a fine on Lamonov in the amount of the bribe he accepted, about 32 million rubles. He has also been stripped of his special rank of colonel of justice.

The court did not forbid Lamonov to occupy government posts after serving his sentence.

The case was heard behind closed doors, as it contained classified documents.

The hearing took place under a special procedure, without analyzing evidence; the defendant made a plea agreement with the investigation, which implies that he fully admitted his guilt.

It was reported earlier that according to the investigation, Lamonov was involved in a corruption scheme to help requalify the charges brought against Andrei Kochuikov (known in the criminal world as The Italian), an associate of criminal boss Zakhary Kalashov (known as Shakro the Young), so that he could be freed from detention. Kochuikov was detained following a shootout near the restaurant Elements on Rochdelskaya Street in Moscow in December 2015.

As a result of the deal, Lamonov received part of the general bribe of $500,000, which businessman Oleg Sheikhametov handed over to Investigative Committee officials.

Lamonov, his former chief Mikhail Maksimenko, and former first deputy chief of the Investigative Committee department for Moscow Denis Nikandrov were detained and taken into custody in connection with the bribery case in July 2016.

Lamonov and Nikandrov concluded pretrial plea agreements, and their cases were separated from the general investigation.

On April 20, 2018, the Moscow City Court found Maksimenko guilty of accepting two bribes totaling $550,000, including one from Sheikhametov, and sentenced him to 13 years in a strict security penitentiary. The court also imposed a fine of 165 million rubles and stripped him of his special rank of colonel of justice.

Alexei Kramarenko, former chief of the investigative directorate of the Central Administrative District of the Investigative Committee's Moscow branch was arrested in December 2017 on suspicion of accepting bribes for mitigating Kochuikov's prosecution. Former chief of the Investigative Committee's Moscow branch Alexander Drymanov was arrested in the same case in July 2018.