Moscow, Dec. 22, (dpa/GNA) – Former Russian minister Mikhail Abysov has been sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Moscow court for founding a criminal organization and for fraud.
The judgement against the 51-year-old, who is alleged to have stolen billions of roubles as a member of the government from 2012 to 2018 and taken them out of the country, was handed down on Thursday evening, almost five years after his arrest.
According to the judgement, Abysov deceived shareholders of electricity companies in Siberia and illegally siphoned off funds. Other defendants were sentenced to prison terms and fines alongside Abysov.
All of them rejected the accusations made by the prosecution.
The Kremlin-critical newspaper Novaya Gazeta and a network of investigative journalists had also uncovered Abysov’s dealings and his financial investments abroad.
Until 2018, Abysov was responsible at the ministerial level for the “Open Government” project, which was intended to guarantee the transparency of state power and proximity to citizens. He had previously worked as an advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the judgement, he stole 4 billion roubles (today worth around $44 million) from several companies during his time as minister and moved the money abroad. He was facing up to 20 years in prison, but the court fell well short of the 19 years the prosecution had demanded.
Abysov, who was living in Italy at the time, was lured to Moscow in 2019 under the pretext of discussing business matters with then-prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, according to reports.
Upon his arrival in Russia, the FSB domestic intelligence service was waiting for him, it was reported after his arrest in March 2019.
This is not the first time that a high-ranking member of Medvedev’s former cabinet has had to answer for criminal offences. In 2016, the then-minister of economy, Alexei Ulyukayev, was detained for extortion and accepting bribes and sentenced to eight years in prison in 2017. He was released in May of last year.
GNA