VORONEZH. Aug 29 (Interfax-AVN) - An attending physician of the Voronezh military hospital was detained red-handed when taking a bride for exemption from military service, Sergei Korzhenkov, deputy head of the anti-mafia department of the Voronezh region police, said on Friday.
"Agents of the regional anti-mafia department detained Alexander Sinkin, attending physician of the Voronezh military hospital, when he was taking a bribe of USD1,000," Korzhenkov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The money was intended for transfer to the chief of a hospital department, a lieutenant colonel, who was supposed to fabricate a medical report on a potential draftee's poor health that makes him unfit for active-duty service.
According to Korzhenkov, there are grounds to suspect that over 1,000 potential draftees have been illegally exempted from service this way in the past 2.5 years. Investigators are to check the suspicions.
The military prosecutor's office of the Voronezh garrison has launched a criminal case. Those who will be found guilty of bribe-taking may face up to 12 years in prison.