The investigation sent the case of the ex-employees of the Ministry of Defense about a bribe to the court.

The investigation has sent to the 235th garrison Military Court a criminal case against former employees of the Russian Ministry of Defense, reserve colonels Andrei Chekmazov and Dmitry Fomin, accused of accepting bribes while fulfilling the state defense order. This was announced on March 5 by the Main Military Investigation Directorate (GVSU) of the Investigative Committee (IC) of Russia.

"Military investigators have collected sufficient evidence confirming the guilt of employees of the Department of Advanced Interspecific Research and special projects of the Russian Ministry of Defense Andrei Chekmazov and his deputy Dmitry Fomin in receiving a particularly large bribe in the performance of a state contract (Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)," the Telegram says —the department's channel.

According to the investigation, in 2016-2022, the military department signed a number of contracts for the performance of work with JSC Oborontrest for a total amount of 1.5 billion rubles. The defendants controlled the execution of these contracts.

Subsequently, in 2023-2024, two employees of the Ministry of Defense received a bribe of more than 16 million rubles from the head of Oborontrest, Alexander Sukharev, for unhindered acceptance of work and general patronage.

It is specified that at the request of the investigation, Chekmazov was taken into custody, and Fomin was placed under house arrest.

"In order to secure a verdict in terms of fines, civil action and property penalties, military investigators have seized the property of the accused in the amount of more than 18 million rubles," the Investigative Committee added.

The accusation against Chekmazov and Fomin was submitted on September 5, 2024. Sukharev is also a defendant in the case and is accused of bribing an official. He was placed under house arrest.