🔮 Better than the Oracle? Our Fair Value found this +42% bagger 5 months before Buffett bought itRead More

Governor of Russia's Sakhalin island charged with bribery

Published 13/03/2015, 14:42
© Reuters. Governor of Sakhalin region Khoroshavin attends a court hearing in Moscow
NG
-
GAZPq
-

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The governor of Russia's oil and natural gas-rich island of Sakhalin in the country's far east has been charged with large-scale bribery involving an energy company, investigators said on Friday.

The Investigative Committee, which reports directly to President Vladimir Putin, said Alexander Khoroshavin received more than $5.6 million (3.8 million pounds) in bribes as governor to facilitate business activities for an energy company called Energostroi.

Under Russia's Criminal Code, he could be fined or jailed for up to 15 years.

Khoroshavin, whose term as governor began in 2007 and is due to expire in 2016, was arrested last week in Sakhalin and flown handcuffed to Moscow. He declared his innocence in a pre-trial hearing and asked to be released on bail under house arrest.

The case comes as Russia's two top energy giants, Rosneft and Gazprom (MCX:GAZP), have been engaged in a court battle over access to Gazprom's pipelines for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Sakhalin that Rosneft wants to build with ExxonMobil.

Investigators said raids on his houses, including one in Moscow, had found large sums of money, jewellery, expensive watches and phones.

Corruption has long been rife in Russia, even under Soviet rule. Transparency International ranked the country 136th in its 2014 Corruption Perception Index, just behind Nigeria.

© Reuters. Governor of Sakhalin region Khoroshavin attends a court hearing in Moscow

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.