MOSCOW, April 29 (RAPSI) - Officials of the Federal Agency for Water Resources who were detained in Moscow on suspicion of having systematically extorted money from tenders have pleaded guilty, the Investigative Committee reported Monday.

Earlier, the Interior Ministry named the detained officials as Ivan Stets, head the agency's department for the Moscow Region, and his deputy Valery Antonov. They are suspected of having extorted money from various businesses for processing documents for water use agreements.

In one such case, the officials extorted 12 million rubles from a company representative by promising that he would win a tender on the right to use two plots of the Istrinskoye water reservoir in the Moscow Region for commercial fishing.

"The suspected are presently under house arrest. It should be noted that the officials have admitted their guilt in these crimes and they have provided the investigators with confessions," the statement said.