Rosneft head Igor Sechin will be called to the stand in the corruption case against Russia's former economic development minister

Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court has decided to call Rosneft head Igor Sechin to the stand in the corruption case against former Economic Development Minister Alexey Ulyukayev. 

Meduza’s correspondent at the courtroom reports that the prosecution petitioned for Sechin to take the stand and the defense supported the motion. The court, however, rejected a request by Ulyukayev’s attorneys to call Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich for questioning.

In trial on November 8, the prosecution brought to court the box that allegedly contained Ulyukayev’s $2-million bribe, unpacking the cash and stacking it on the prosecution’s table for the judge to see. Ulyukayev refused to say if he received the money as a bribe, promising to address the issue when the defense presents its evidence.

Alexey Ulyukayev was arrested in mid-November 2016 on charges of extorting a $2-million bribe from Igor Sechin for greenlighting Rosneft’s acquisition of a stake in the oil company Bashneft. Ulyukayev says Sechin framed him. According to the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the man who went to the police was Federal Security Service General Oleg Feoktistov, who testified earlier in Ulyukayev’s trial in a closed session of court.