MOSCOW. Feb 27 (Interfax) - The Investigative Committee within the Russian prosecution system has confirmed the detention of Smolensk Mayor Eduard Kachanovsky and his deputy Valery Osipov on suspicion of an attempt to extort a bribe.
"The Smolensk regional department of the Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against Smolensk Mayor Eduard Kachanovsky and his deputy Osipov, who are suspected of attempting to extort a major bribe by a group of persons, and against Roman Maksimov, an employee of a private security agency, who is suspected of complicity with the city officials," the Investigative Committee told Interfax on Saturday.
All three suspects have been detained, it said.
The criminal case was opened based on investigative work done by the local Federal Security Service (FSB) department.
The investigation believes that Kachanovsky, Osipov and Maksimov extorted a bribe from the director of a construction company in the form of a three-room apartment in a new building costing more than 2 million rubles in exchange for commissioning certificates on the building and a shop built by the company.