Russian Rosbank board chairman accused of taking bribes

Russian Rosbank’s board chairman, Vladimir Golubkov, was caught red handed as he accepted a bribe to better the loan conditions of an unknown company, the international media reported May 16.

“Golubkov demanded, via his subordinate Polyanitsyna, more than USD 1 mln from a businessman, to extend the maturity and reduce the interest rate on a multi-million dollar loan,”  an Investigative Committee announced, according to Russian news portal RT.

Rosbank was raided  and the police found Golubkov with a considerable amount of cash on his desk.

The police launched an official investigation, but the Chairman’s associates maintain that he may have been set up.

“If you ask me, it is unlikely that he would stoop to such commercial bribery,” the  president of the Association of Russian Banks, Garegin Tosunyan, commented , according to RT. “I hope that investigators will consider the possibility that he was deliberately set up.”

Rosbank is 82 percent owned by international financial organization Societe Generale.