MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - The Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow has dismissed the motion lodged by the investigators to arrest Ak Bars Shipbuilding Corporation director general and Tatarstan's State Council member Renat Mistakhov, charged with giving massive bribes, an Interfax correspondent reported.
"The court ruled to dismiss the motion of the investigator on the use of the measure of restraint in the form of placement in custody against Mistakhov. Mistakhov shall be released in courtroom," Judge Konstantin Pohilko said, reading a ruling.
According to the ruling, no "sufficient evidence of Mistakhov's involvement in crimes" was presented in court.
Mistakhov has been charged on two counts of giving especially massive bribes. He has denied any wrongdoing.
As indicated in the documents read out in court, the Mistakhov case was severed from the case against former head of a section in the Defense Ministry Contracts Audit Department Yury Yefimov, who was charged with bribery before making a plea bargain. He cooperated with the investigation and was sentenced to an actual jail term in 2019 for taking bribes from Mistakhov.
Yefimov told the investigators that in May 2015, Mistakhov gave him 20 million rubles and in May-June 2016, another 35 million rubles at the Jean-Jacque cafe in Moscow.
Through all the stages of the investigation, Mistakhov denied both the giving of bribes and the fact that Yefimov demanded that he give any money, files in the case suggest.
According to case materials, Mistakhov gave money to Yefimov in return for preferences in securing and implementing government contract for building six ships worth dozens of billions of rubles.
The Ak Bars Shipbuilding Corporation was set up under the auspices of the Ak Bars Holding Company in Tatarstan in 2018. The corporation includes such enterprises as the Zelenodolsk-based Gorky plant, the Zelenodolsk Design Bureau, the Kazan Elektropribor plant, and Ak Bars Metal. The main areas of its work are the design and production of ships and vessels, as well as their repair.