The heads of the Ministry of Energy of Russia were convicted for a bribe of 120 million rubles

Anatoly Tikhonov, the former deputy head of the Ministry of Energy of Russia, was sentenced to 5 years and 4 months in prison for receiving two large-scale personal bribes in the amount of 120 million rubles and embezzling more than 270 million rubles of budget funds.

The decision was made on Wednesday by the Meshchansky Court of Moscow. The official was released in the courtroom – he had already served the entire term under arrest. He was banned from holding government positions for 14.5 years. He was awarded state awards: the Order of Honor and the Order of Friendship, Interfax reports.

Tikhonov was detained in September 2020. According to the investigation, the money was stolen during the creation of the state information system of the fuel and energy complex. It was included in the state program for the development of energy efficiency. 968 million rubles were allocated for it, Kommersant newspaper wrote.

Real estate in France and other property were confiscated from the official. He himself denies the guilt. He claimed that he was the victim of a stipulation. In the last word, he declared that if the court leaves him the money, it will be transferred “for the needs of the church,” Kommersant reported.

• 55-year-old Tikhonov was at various times deputy governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai Alexander Khloponin, first deputy chairman of the board of Vnesheconombank and head of the Russian Energy Agency.
• There were six more defendants in the case. They received conditional terms with fines. The prosecution demanded that they be given a conditional term of 7 to 7.5 years.