MOSCOW, March 15 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court on Friday upheld extension of detention for a board member of Interprogressbank Valery Markelov and ex-attorney Victor Belevtsov, who had allegedly given a 1-bilion-ruble ($15.3 million) bribe to ex-Russian anti-corruption official Dmitry Zakharchenko, the court’s press service told RAPSI.

The defendants will remain in detention until April 8.

According to investigators, between 2007 and 2016, Markelov gave over 1 billion rubles as a bribe to Zakharchenko through Belevtsov.

Ex-Russian anti-corruption official Dmitry Zakharchenko is charged with corruption and hindering conduct of preliminary investigation.

Investigators claim that in 2014 Zakharchenko and his accomplice received $800,000 from a restaurant businessman. Initially, they demanded 5 million rubles ($75,000). In 2015, they allegedly demanded from that businessman a 50% discount card of his restaurants, and therefore the defendant saved over 3.5 million rubles during bill payment.

Moreover, investigators claim that in 2016, he warned a familiar woman about forthcoming searches as part of a fraud case and organized taking of all documents and office equipment out to prevent their seizure.

Zakharchenko was arrested on September 8, 2016, on suspicion of taking a 7-million-ruble (about $105,000) bribe. During searches at his sister’s apartment law enforcement officers found around 9 billion rubles. He denied any relation to the seized funds.

According to case papers, Viktor Zakharchenko, the father of ex-official, is charged with being an accessory to embezzlement. He also pleaded not guilty.