MOSCOW, July 2 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court on Thursday overturned a 10-year prison sentence against ex-Director of the Russian Defense Ministry’s state contract audit department Maxim Kuksin, who had been convicted of receiving bribes worth over 11 million rubles (over $155,000 at the current exchange rate), the court’s press service told RAPSI.

The case was ordered to be sent back to a lower court for reconsideration. Kuksin was released on travel restrictions.

In December 2019, Moscow’s Kuzminsky District Court sentenced Kuksin to 10 years in a high-security prison and fined him 30 million rubles (over $425,000).

According to investigators, Kuksin has received at least 11 million rubles ($156,000) 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 large sum money to the defendant. Kuksin pleaded not guilty.