Ex-Deputy Minister of Housing and Communal Services of the Belgorod region sentenced to eight years in prison for bribery

The Sverdlovsk District Court of Belgorod sentenced Veronika Novikova, the former deputy Minister of Housing and Communal Services of the region, to eight years in prison in a general regime colony and a fine of 10.7 million rubles for accepting a large bribe. This was reported on March 31 in the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation.

"The court found that Novikova, from November 2022 to March 2024, acting through an intermediary, received a bribe from the director of SSMU-3 LLC in the form of money in the amount of 3 million rubles, a car, illegal provision of property services, as well as fictitious employment of her relative," the agency's website says..

According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the remuneration was transferred for the general patronage of the service and for Novikova's assistance in concluding 80 contracts with the Housing and Communal Services Reform Foundation with a commercial organization for major repairs of apartment buildings located in the Belgorod region.

It is clarified that the court also deprived Novikova of the right to hold certain positions for eight years. At the same time, the serving of the sentence in the colony is postponed until her eight-year-old child reaches the age of 14.

Bribe of 50 mln: ex-head of Fonbet Sergey Anokhin detained in Moscow

The bookmaker's press service said the businessman left his post as CEO in January

Earlier, on March 25, in the Moscow region, the former head of Serpukhov was charged with accepting large and especially large bribes. It was established that from January to December 2024, the defendant received bribes from two entrepreneurs — 500 thousand rubles and 9 million 389 thousand rubles — for the patronage of their organizations that concluded municipal contracts for snow removal and repair of street lighting.