Jailed former economics minister
Ulyukayev was the first government minister to be arrested after being caught red-handed emerging from a meeting with Rosneft CEO
Sechin accused the minister of extorting a bribe to grant government permission for an acquisition.
The most salacious part of the case was the recording of the conversation between Sechin and Ulyukayev that was presented as evidence against him, where the two men were heard to talk about a basket of “sausages” – the bag of money. Nowhere on those tapes are either
A second tape was recorded in Rosneft’s office, and it starts with Sechin asking his assistant to bring tea and “a basket with sausages” into the room. Sechin is a hunter, and he makes his own sausage products with deer meat at his own private factory. Vedomosti reported that Sechin frequently presents a basket of 16 different kinds of home-made sausages as a gift to his business partners
At the end of the conversation the two men can be heard putting on their coats. Ulyukayev asks, “And the basket?” Sechin replies, “Yes, take the basket,” and the two leave. Ulyukayev was arrested shortly afterwards by the FSB as he got into a waiting car.
The next day he was placed under house arrest in his apartment on
At his trial Ulyukayev testified that he thought the bag Sechin gave him contained wine and sausages, and accused Rosneft’s CEO and the head of security of entrapment.
On
Ulyukayev’s arrest caused a scandal at the time, but he was generally regarded as one of the Kremlin’s liberal ministers and a competent pair of hands. Speculation at the time suggested that Ulyukayev had been set up by Sechin as part of an elite power game. Rosneft was seeking government permission to buy a state-owned stake in oil company
“The explanation for his arrest is questionable, as
The government resisted the participation of state-controlled Rosneft in the privatisation of
Unnamed sources close to Kremlin told Gazeta.ru at the time that Russian President
The case against the minister was reportedly initiated and supervised by the head of Rosneft’s security department,
Feoktistov’s team was reportedly driving on the case at Sechin’s demand, while developing cases against a handful of other notable officials involved in the economy, such as Deputy Prime Minister
Sechin is a close personal friend of President Putin from his
The court this week granted Ulyukayev’s request for early parole, Interfax reports.
"The issue of early release of Ulyukayev was resolved on
According to the source, the prosecutor's office and the administration of the colony "were not against the release of the minister on parole, they noted his good behaviour.”
Ulyukayev is expected to be release after the
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