Igor Sechin, head of Rosneft, set up a personal meeting with a government minister for what was in fact a law enforcement sting, after which state investigators charged the minister with receiving a $2 million bribe, 2 sources familiar with the case told Reuters.
Alexei Ulyukayev, who at the time was minister for economic development, was detained in the late night operation on 14 November at Rosneft's Moscow headquarters.
It was the 1st time in decades a serving Russian minister had been arrested. Ulyukayev, 60, denies the charges.
The Investigative Committee, the state body investigating the case, said in a statement at the time that Ulyukayev had extorted the $2 million in return for giving his ministry's approval for an acquisition that Rosneft made last year.
The operation at the Rosneft offices, just across the Moskva river from the Kremlin, was planned in advance by law enforcement agencies in conjunction with unnamed Rosneft officials, the state investigators said.
To make the operation happen, Sechin, in co-ordination with law enforcement officers, arranged to meet the minister in person that night at the Rosneft offices, according to the two sources. Reuters was unable to confirm their accounts independently.
At that meeting, Igor Sechin was present when Ulyukayev was handed a large amount of cash, said the 2 sources, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to discuss the case publicly.
The money that the minister is alleged to have received at the meeting is now part of the prosecution's case against Ulyukayev, the sources said.
He was fired from his job soon after his arrest, and is under house arrest awaiting trial.
Asked about Sechin's involvement in the sting operation as outlined by the 2 sources, a Rosneft representative said: «Rosneft does not have the right to comment on investigative activities. We suggest approaching the Investigative Committee with this query.»
Sechin's role in the case bolstered his reputation inside the ruling elite as a feared Kremlin enforcer who wields an increasing amount of power within a system built up by Vladimir Putin, according to several government officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Ulyukayev told a Moscow court after being arrested he was not guilty. One of Ulyukayev's lawyers, Timofei Gridnev, told Reuters on the day after Ulyukayev's detention that what happened with his client in the Rosneft office was a «provocation», but he did not elaborate.
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