A former St. Petersburg official has been found guilty of accepting bribes in the form of eggs and butter, but has disputed claims that he also took honey.
Over the course of three years, city inspector Sergei Butin had turned a blind eye to violations by street vendors in exchange for financial or edible kickbacks, the St. Petersburg court system said Tuesday.
In one case, Butin “simply took various products from vendor O.: a pot of honey worth 700 rubles [$11] and three cans of butter worth 100 rubles [$1.50] each,” the court said.
“From vendor K. on the same street, [Butin] took 60 eggs at a cost of 600 rubles ($9.50).”
Butin admitted his guilt in part and admitted to taking some of the goods, but maintained that he had not accepted the 700-ruble pot of honey.
A district court fined Butin 650,000 rubles ($10,300) and barred him from holding public office for two years.
