The U.S. Justice Department has given the Prosecutor General's Office material about bribes given by carmaker Daimler – meaning that the office has no more excuses to refuse to investigate the case.
Daimler has been accused of giving bribes to officials in 22 countries, including Russia, since 1998 in order to get state contracts.
The prosecutor's office wouldn't comment. State Duma Deputy Alexander Kulikov, a member of the body's Security Committee who made the request to the Justice Department about the investigation, told Vedomosti that he had also received the documents.
Kulikov had petitioned the prosecutor's office to carry out a check on the Daimler affair, after it was reported in the Russian media, but he didn't receive an intelligible answer and was forced to make a request to the Justice Department.
"Yesterday in the Duma, I met with representatives of the U.S. Justice Department, and they were planning to visit the Prosecutor General's Office next," he said. The U.S. documents don't have concrete names or numbers, but more detailed information will be provided to law enforcement agencies if they confirm that they are serious about proceeding.
According to an accompanying letter from the Justice Department, all the materials given to the Russian prosecutors are publicly available.
Nevertheless, the handing over of these documents is important from a procedural point of view, a source close to the prosecutor's office told Vedomosti. After receiving official documents, the Criminal Procedural Code requires prosecutors to decide within 10 days on whether they will open a criminal case or declare that the case is groundless.
According to the Justice Ministry, from 2000 to 2005, Russian officials received at least 5.02 million euros ($6.4 million) and about 80,000 German marks (about $50,000).
The Justice Department says kickbacks were accepted by the Interior Ministry, the Special Purpose Garage, the Federal Guard Service, the Defense Ministry, Moscow city authorities and officials in Ufa and Novy Urengoi.
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