In Astrakhan, bosses of customs post suspected of bribe-taking

The head of the Astrakhan customs post and two of his subordinates are suspected of abuse of service power and systematic bribe-taking. This was announced today by Vladimir Markin, official spokesman of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation.

The figurants in the case are Vyacheslav Muromtsev, head of the post, Natalia Yanchenkova, head of customs clearance and customs control division, and her deputy Stanislav Nikolaenko.

According to Mr Markin, the involvement of Muromtsev and Nikolaenko in systematic bribe-taking for speeding up the customs clearance was established with the help of the video materials presented by the local FSB Department.

According to investigators, the suspects also forced customs applicants, under threat of protracting their customs clearance procedure, to recall their filed customs declarations from the customs authorities. This helped the culprits to improve their fictitious work quality indicators and receive big premiums, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

Under decision of the court, Muromtsev and Nikolaenko were put into custody, the issue of Yanchenkova's arrest will be considered by the court today. Now inspectors check other workers of the Astrakhan customs post for their involvement in bribe-taking, the "BFM.ru" reports.

The position of the accused is not reported.