MOSCOW, May 27 (RAPSI) - The board of directors of Rosbank, the Russian subsidiary of the French Societe Generale, has dismissed chief executive officer Vladimir Golubkov, who is being investigated for commercial bribery, the bank reported on its website on Monday.

Earlier this month, the police arrested Golubkov, who has headed the bank since 2008, while he was accepting 5 million rubles ($160,000) as part of a larger $1.5 million kickback from the representative of a private company. The executive was allegedly trying to extort the money from Andrei Kovalyov, a former member of the Moscow city legislature and a rock musician, for restructuring an $80 million debt.

The police believe Rosbank Senior Vice President Tamara Polyanitsyna was also involved in the deal. Both executives face fines of up to 70 times the bribe amount and prison terms of up to seven years.

Golubkov and Polyanitsyna will remain under house arrest until mid-July. Polyanitsyna was suspended from her job, Rosbank's press office told the Prime news agency.

On May 24 the Presnensky Court ordered Golubkov to be placed under house arrest until July 16. The suspect earlier said he was innocent and that his arrest was not linked to a conflict among the bank's executives. He believes the accusations against him stem from a dispute between companies.

Rosbank is a private universal bank within the Societe Generale banking group. It provides banking services to private and corporate clients and has over 600 offices in 340 cities and towns across Russia. It is one of Russia's top 10 banks in terms of assets.