Penza, 12 February 2013. PenzaNews. Russia’s Supreme Court changed the sentence of the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Penza region – Minister of Agriculture Marat Faizov, accused of committing two episodes of bribery on a large scale. According to the head of Media Relations of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Pavel Odintsov, the verdict in part 4, Art. 290 of the Criminal Code “Bribery” was canceled, the case was closed due to non-participation of the suspect in the crime. Moreover, the fine to be paid was increased to 18 million rubles with deprivation of the right to hold official position for two years.

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Pavel Odintsov added that, in accordance with Part 5, Art. 72 of the Criminal Code, regarding the fact that Marat Faizov has been in custody since 23 March 2012, the main punishment was mitigated to 15 million rubles.

“Preventive measure in the form of detention is to be canceled. The rest of the sentence remains unchanged,” Pavel Odintsov quoted the verdict.

He also clarified that the sentence was passed on Monday, February 11.

As news agency PenzaNews reported earlier, according to investigators, on March 20, 2012 the accused, being in a car on a road “Saratov — Nizhny Novgorod” near Kolyshleyka of the Penza region, received 200 thousand rubles bribe from the chief of a company as an illegal compensation for general protection and illegal actions in favor of the company’s leaders.

Marat Faizov was arrested red-handed by officials of the regional offices of Federal Security Service of Russia and Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

In addition, the investigation established the fact of another bribery. In 2011, the director of the said company gave the former Minister of Agriculture a bribe of 400 thousand rubles for the same actions in favor of management of the commercial structure.

During the trial, the former Minister of Agriculture in the region partially admitted his guilt.

On November 28, 2012 Penza regional court sentenced Marat Faizov to 7,5 years of imprisonment in a penal colony and a fine in the amount of 12 million rubles.

The verdict was appealed in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.