Russia: Top ranking MoD official Vasilieva sentenced to 5 years in corruption case

A former top-ranked Defence Ministry official, Evgenia Vasilieva, was sentenced by a Moscow court to five years in prison, after she was found guilty on corruption charges in Moscow, Friday. In the prosecutors' judgement, Vasilieva organised and led a criminal conspiracy as the head of the Ministry's Property Department. The former head of the Ministry's Property Department was convicted of obtaining funds by criminal means, as well as swindling and wasting federal agency fees in sales of buildings, which before belonged to the Russian Ministry of Defence. The court took into account the previous period of her house arrest, so that in fact Vasilieva already served about a half year of the five year term. Her two accomplices were jailed for three years each. Vasilieva and her criminal group was originally suspected in stealing three billion roubles, however the final sum was reduced by prosecutor to one billion ($19,657,000).