MOSCOW, September 22 (RAPSI) — A court in Russia’s Altai Krai is to hear a criminal case over the receipt of a bribe by the region’s ex-Minister of Transport Alexander Dementyev in return for patronage in the state procurement transactions, the press service of the Russian Investigative Committee informs RAPSI.

The preliminary probe into this criminal case had been completed, an indictment was approved, and a confessionary statement from the defendant was obtained, the body notes.

Investigators allege that in January 2020, the ex-minister suggested that the founder and CEO of a company paid him a reward for making legally significant decisions on choosing that enterprise as a contractor for road construction in the region and concluding respective agreements and contracts. In August and December last year, the defendant received bribes from entrepreneurs totaling to more than 5.2 million rubles (about $72,000 at the current exchange rate).

Dementyev's property worth 8.6 million rubles (about $118,000), 7,300 euros and $4,900 was seized.

The case against ex-minister was initiated on serious graft charges, the Investigative Committee says in the statement.