MOSCOW, June 28 – RAPSI. Investigative authorities have charged the Interior Troops’ chief physician Maj. Gen. Yury Sabanin with bribery, his attorney Evgeny Vizelman told the Russian Legal Information Agency.

Sabanin has been accused of the most serious type of bribery, he says, carrying a maximum punishment of 15-year imprisonment and a fine equal to 70 times the amount of the bribe.

According to investigators, a businessman, whose company traded in medical equipment, won the bidding for supplying mobile hospitals for the Interior Troops in 2010. After the bidding, Sabanin requested a 3.5 percent share of the 100 million ruble transaction from the businessman for protection and prospects of winning further government contracts.

Sabanin was detained in a hospital on Wednesday as he accepted the bribe.

It has been reported that he attempted to get rid of the caseload of money by throwing it out of the restroom window. He then simulated a heart attack, but the ambulance team did not confirm his diagnosis.

A similar case against former Chief Military Physician Alexander Belevitin and his deputy Alexei Nikitin is being reviewed by the court.

Investigators maintain that, Belevitin and Nikitin accepted 7 million rubles ($238,000) in bribes to act as intermediaries in signing medical equipment supply contracts for the Defense Ministry worth over 187 million rubles ($5.75 million).

It is estimated that the equipment was purchased at inflated prices and inflicted over 51 million ruble ($1.6 million) losses on the government.