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Siberian Emergencies Chief Sentenced in Bribery Case

A Zabaikalsky region court has sentenced the Siberian region's former emergencies chief to four years' imprisonment and a hefty fine for taking kickbacks from his subordinates.

According to investigators, Vyacheslav Korolkov, his deputy, Vladimir Yermakov, and the chief accountant of the local branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry, Lyubov Izmailova, issued large bonuses to their employees and then, under various pretexts, forced them to return them up to 80 percent of the bonus money.

The three officials ran the scam for four years, amassing more than 14 million rubles ($450,000) in kickbacks, investigators said in a statement on their official website.

On Monday, the court stripped Korolkov of his rank of major general, confiscated a Toyota Land Cruiser that he owned and reassigned his parking slot. The former emergencies official has also been disqualified from holding public office for three years after his jail term.

Yermakov and Izmailova were both earlier sentenced to six years' imprisonment for their part in the bribery scam.

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