MOSCOW. March 13 (Interfax) - Russian Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin has sent a formal request to the Supreme Judicial Qualification Board to obtain its consent to prosecute Judge Sergei Rusov of the Krasnodar Territory Court of Arbitration, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax.
Bastrykin filed his request on opening a criminal case on bribery charges (Criminal Code Article 290) after "studying findings of a preliminary inquiry into Rusov's acceptance of money conducted by the Investigative Committee department for the Krasnodar territory," Markin said.
"Procedural inquiry documents show that the judge was considering a lawsuit by the Sochi administration on recovering a forfeit penalty of nearly 600 million rubles from a construction organization," he said.
"Rusov invited a representative of the defendant and proposed that he hand him 20 million rubles in exchange for a ruling in favor of the construction company," Markin said. "The defendant's representative accepted the proposal but reported it to the Investigative Committee's territorial department. The defendant's representative later met with the judge twice in his office and handed him the sum he demanded," he said.
After all the money was passed to the judge, Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives acting under the investigative authorities' mandate put an end to the judge's actions, Markin said.
If the Supreme Judicial Qualification Board grants Bastrykin's request, he will open a criminal case against Rusov, which will be handled by the Investigative Committee's central office, he said.
It was reported earlier that the Federation Council was determined to take the investigation into Rusov's suspected bribe-taking under its parliamentary control.