Military investigators detained Alexander Lopatin, a leading adviser to the Department of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for ensuring the state defense order, on suspicion of receiving a large bribe in Moscow. This was reported on December 9 by a source in law enforcement agencies.
"Alexander Mikhailovich Lopatin, who holds the position of a leading adviser to the Department of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for ensuring the state defense order, was detained during operational search activities. Operational investigative actions are being carried out with him, after which investigators will go to court with a petition for the election of a preventive measure for him," TASS quotes the source as saying.
According to the interlocutor of the agency, Lopatin is charged with committing a crime under Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Receiving a bribe by an official on a particularly large scale"). The sanction of the article provides for up to 15 years with a fine of up to 70 times the amount of the bribe.
According to the REN TV channel in the press service of the Basmanny Court of Moscow, the investigation asks to send Lopatin under arrest until February 7, 2022.
Earlier, on December 9, the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, said that in the first nine months of 2021, the damage from corruption crimes amounted to 13 billion rubles. According to him, the number of criminal cases of corruption has increased by 15% this year.
A day earlier in Moscow, the operational security officers of the police headquarters detained the head of the criminal investigation department of the Department of Internal Affairs "Golyanovo" on suspicion of taking a bribe. As told in the department, they were approached by a man who said that a certain citizen offers him to avoid criminal liability with the help of connections in law enforcement agencies for a monetary reward.
Before that, on December 5, it was reported that the first deputy head of the administration of Solnechnogorsk near Moscow, Alexander Kvasnikov, was detained by law enforcement officers. According to some reports, the official is suspected of receiving a bribe. It was noted that FSB officers were working with him.