OREANDA-NEWS  A court has sentenced Andrei Chekmazov, a former employee of the Department of Research and Special Projects of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, to seven years in prison for accepting more than 16 million rubles in bribes, the Main Military Investigation Directorate (GVSU) of the TFR reported.

"The verdict of the court sentenced Chekmazov to imprisonment for a period of 7 years to serve his sentence in a high-security penal colony. The court confiscated the property of the convicted person in the amount of 16.7 million rubles," reads a message posted on Friday on the telegram channel of the GVSU.

The ministry noted that Chekmazov was found guilty of accepting a particularly large bribe in the performance of a government contract (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the TFR, in 2016-2022, the Ministry of Defense and JSC Oborontest signed contracts for the performance of work with a total value of 1.5 billion rubles. "The former employees of the specified Department, Chekmazov and Fomin, were responsible for monitoring the execution of contracts," the report says.

According to investigators, in 2023-2024, "Chekmazov and Fomin received a bribe of over 16 million rubles from Alexander Sukharev, Deputy General Director of Oborontest JSC, for unhindered acceptance of the work being carried out, as well as general patronage."

"In order to secure a verdict regarding the recovery of a fine, civil action and property penalties, military investigators have seized the property of the accused in the amount of more than 18 million rubles," the GVSU reported, noting that the criminal case against Fomin is being considered in the 235 garrison military court.

The GVSU reported on the initiation of proceedings against Chekmazov, Fomin and Sukharev in September last year.