MOSCOW, April 5 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Nikulinsky District Court has forfeited to the state assets worth nearly 500 million rubles ($8 million) owned by the former Russian anti-corruption official Dmitry Zakharchenko charged with taking bribes and his relatives upon a motion filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office, the court’s press service has told RAPSI.
The seized assets include property items, money and bonds.
However, the court refused to forfeit jewelry estimated at $320,000 bought by Zakharchenko and his wife Yana Saratovtseva in the U.S. in 2013.
According to investigators, 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 ($140 million). He denied any relation to the seized funds.