MOSCOW, October 5 (RAPSI) – Ten land plots, a house and a Land Rover automobile belonging to Russia’s former economy minister Alexey Ulyukayev have been seized as part of corruption case against him, RAPSI learnt in the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow on Thursday.

One of the seized land plots in Moscow is valued at as high as 45 million rubles (about $784,000), a prosecutor said during the trial of Ulyukayev.

On September 5, head of Russia’s largest oil corporation Rosneft Igor Sechin signed a statement forwarded to the Federal Security Service FSB chief claiming that Ulyukayev tried to extort $2 million. According to Sechin, Ulyukayev demanded money for allowing Rosneft to privatize Bashneft oil company. On the same day, a high-ranking official of the Corporate Governance Department in the Economy Ministry Yulia Moskvitina testified that Ulyukayev personally initiated removal of Rosneft from a list of potential privatizers of Bashneft.

Ulyukayev was arrested while receiving an alleged bribe in mid-November 2016. According to the Investigative Committee, the former minister threatened to create obtrusions for Rosneft with the use of his position. On November 15, 2016, the ex-minister was put under house arrest. Later in the evening, President Vladimir Putin relieved Ulyukayev of his post because of loss of trust.

Ulyukayev pleaded not guilty and stated that he believed the case was fabricated. The defendant noted that there was a provocation, orchestrated by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and that there was no sound evidence in the case, aside from a testimony provided by Sechin.