A Russian court sentenced ex-economy minister Alexei Ulyukayev to eight years in prison on Friday after finding him guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Igor Sechin, the CEO of oil giant Rosneft.
Ulyukayev was found guilty of demanding and accepting the bribe on November 14 last year.
State prosecutors had said that Ulyukayev had asked for the bribe in exchange for approving the sale of the state-controlled oil company Bashneft to Rosneft. The case has shone a rare light on infighting among the Russian elite.
Ulyukayev had denied the charges, and said that he had thought the bag holding the bribe was a gift of expensive alcohol. In a final hearing before the verdict, Ulyukayev said he was the victim of “a monstrous and cruel provocation”.
Court bailiffs put handcuffs on Ulyukayev and escorted him to a cage in the courtroom after the presiding judge, Larisa Semyonova, had pronounced the sentence.
The court also ruled that Ulyukayev must pay a fine of more than 130 million roubles ($2.21 million).
