MOSCOW, June 24 (RAPSI) – The First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction has upheld sentence passed upon ex-board member of Inter RAO energy holding Karina Tsurkan for espionage, RAPSI has learnt from the court’s press service.

In December 2020, the Moscow City Court found Tsurkan guilty of espionage and sentenced her to 15 years in penal colony. The court also forfeited 656 million rubles ($9 million) seized from Tsurkan to the state.

Prosecutors demanded an 18-year jail sentence for Tsurkan.

Investigators claimed that in August 2004 Tsurkan became an agent involved in confidential and unofficial cooperation with a Moldovan secret service.

In April 2015, while staying in Moscow she received a digital version of a document on project prepared by the Ministry of Energy. The project was allegedly related to the actions of Russian energy companies in the sphere of international cooperation. In September of the same year, she transferred the document to a secret service, according to case papers.

The woman denied wrongdoing and claimed that she did not know representatives of foreign secret services and did not see the document in question.