MOSCOW, March 10 (RAPSI) – Investigators have opened a criminal case against Healthcare Minister of Russia’s Altai Republic Sergey Kovalenko and his assistant Rustam Tuyunchekov suspected of taking a bribe totaling about 4.6 million rubles (over $60,000), the Investigative Committee’s press service reports.

The suspects have been arrested.

According to preliminary information, from March 2020 to February 2021, Kovalenko and Tuyunchekov repeatedly received bribes from managers of three firms worth nearly 4.6 million rubles for assistance in the conclusion of state contracts for supplies of medical equipment and individual protective gears and common protection.