The deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg from the United Russia party Roman Koval was detained on suspicion of taking a bribe. This was announced on Thursday, July 30, at the press service of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
Criminal cases were initiated against Koval and his assistant Andrei Grishin under the articles “Taking bribes on an especially large scale” and “Mediation in bribery on an especially large scale”, respectively.
In the period from 2018 to 2020, according to the investigation, as a member of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, Koval received a bribe from a businessman in the form of money and a car. Its total amount was 15 million rubles. Grishin helped the official get some of the funds.
In return, Koval, using his official position, helped the entrepreneur in allocating budget funds to certain state budgetary institutions of St. Petersburg. Subsequently, it was with them that the enterprises represented by the businessman appearing in the case entered into government contracts.
To accomplish this, Koval implemented the introduction and adoption of amendments to the draft laws of the city “On the budget of St. Petersburg”. The size of the bribe of the deputy was 20% of the allocated budget funds.
“When receiving the next part of the illegal monetary reward on July 30, the deputy’s assistant was detained red-handed, and then the deputy himself,” the department noted.
Soon Kaval and Grishina will be charged and will choose a preventive measure. The investigation, reportedly, will petition for their detention.
Earlier on the same day, 78.ru wrote about the arrest of the people’s choice with reference to the press service of the party in which he was a member. However, the reason for the incident was not specified.
42-year-old Koval became a member of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly in 2016. Prior to that, he served in the Main Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region and the local police.