Ex-Defense Ministry’s auditor gets 10 years in prison for $175,000 graft

MOSCOW, December 16 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Kuzminsky District Court on Monday convicted ex-Director of the Russian Defense Ministry’s state contract audit department Maxim Kuksin, of receiving bribes worth over 11 million rubles ($175,000) and sentenced him to 10 years in a high-security prison, RAPSI learnt from the court’s press service.

Additionally, the defendant was fined 30 million rubles.

According to investigators, Kuksin has received at least 11 million rubles ($165,000) in bribes. The case was based on witness testimony given by Yury Yefimov, the chief of the second military economic costing department of the Defense Ministry, who gave a large sum money to the defendant.

However, Kuksin has pleaded not guilty.