Alexander Miskov, former state representative on the board of directors of Transneft and deputy head of the financial control and auditing department of the Ministry of Industry and Energy
Photo: Sergey Mikheev
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Official Sentenced for Bribe He Didn't Touch
The Moscow Municipal Court has sentenced Alexander Miskov, former state representative on the board of directors of Transneft and deputy head of the financial control and auditing department of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, to seven years in a high-security prison colony. Judge Mikhail Otkin found the official guilty of receiving a bribe of 580,000 rubles. Miskov called the sentence unfair and said that the case against him was a “provocation by the FSB.”
The reading of the sentence was delayed by an hour and a half because Miskov could not be brought from the investigative holding facility on time because of traffic conditions. He has been in custody for more than a year. The reading of the sentence took two hours. Bailiffs for some reason did not remove the handcuffs from Miskov during the court session.
Judge Otkin began by reminding the court of the charges. Miskov was arrested by FSB agents in his office in the Ministry of Industry and Energy on June 29, 2005. The agents found 580,000 rubles in marked bills in a package in his desk drawer. The money had been given to Miskov by Alexander Noskov, deputy director of Boreskov Catalysis Research Institute in Novosibirsk, just before the agents appeared. That institute had fulfilled a state order to develop a new of catalyzer for the production of motor fuel. Financing for the program was reduced in 2003 from 500 million rubles to 350 million rubles and lengthy delays in financing for the project began the year after that. Miskov managed the project on the behalf of the agency he worked for. According to investigators, he demanded from the managers of the institute a 10-percent cut of the funds provided by the ministry in exchange for seeing to it that financing was resumed. The scientists, as the judge noted at the sentencing, were “left with no choice” and agreed to his conditions. Then the Ministry of Industry and Energy concluded a contract with the institute to finance work worth 35 million rubles and a supplemental agreement on 150 million rubles was made. On May 19 of last year, after the institute received an advance of 10.5 million rubles, Noskov gave Miskov 10 percent of that amount while they met in the Prague restaurant in Moscow. That money had been cashed by a front company called OOO Strong on a falsified work order.
After receiving the first bribe, investigators say, the official raised his demand to 22 percent of the money received from the ministry. That was when the scientists turned to the Novosibirsk department of the FSB. When the institute received the next transfer of money from the ministry, Noskov was fitted with observation devices before his meeting with Miskov. Miskov was arrested after receiving a bottle of whiskey and 580,000 rubles.
The judge noted that the information on the first bribe was received from a single person, Noskov, and not confirmed with material evidence. H also noted that investigators “obviously exaggerated” Miskov's role and capability in securing funding for the institute. Therefore, the judge declared Miskov not guilty of attempting to extort a bribe, to the clear displeasure of the prosecutor.
The judge found the second bribe fully proven and sentenced Miskov to seven years in a high-security prison colony for it. “Do you understand everything? He asked the defendant at the end of the reading. “Seven years for receiving a bribe of 580,000 rubles.” Upon receiving a positive reply, the judge addressed the same question to the defendant's relatives in the courtroom. “Yes, your honor,” two women answered quietly.
Before being led away, Miskov told journalists that the case was “a provocation by the FSB,” and Miskov's lawyer, Nikolay Klen, stated that his client's guilt had not been proven. “Mr. Miskov's fingerprints are not on the money taken from the package,” he said. “The FSB agents need a show trial for corruption. That is the whole meaning of this case.” The defense said that it will appeal the decision.
Vladislav Trifonov
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 16, 2006
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