Rosbank CEO and vice president detained in Moscow

The chief executive officer and the senior vice president of Rosbank, the Russian subsidiary of French banking giant Societe Generale, have been detained over an attempt to take a 5 million ruble bribe, RIA Novosti cites the Russian Interior Ministry as saying on Wednesday.

The police detained Rosbank's head Vladimir Golubkov as he was accepting a 5-million-ruble bribe through an intermediary, the bank's Senior Vice-President Tatiana Polyanitsyna said, the news agency informs.

“The bank’s chief executive demanded $1.5 million from a company representative to prolong a loan agreement and to sign an additional agreement with reduced interest rates and monthly payments. He asked the businessman to deliver the money through his intermediary, Rosbank’s senior vice-president,” RIA Novosti cites the ministry as saying in a statement.

Former deputy head of the Russian Central Bank Sergey Aleksashenko told Ekho Moskvy that such cases were believed to be quite common in Russia, but he was surprised that foreign banks could also be involved in corruption schemes.

This shows how badly the Russian economy is corrupted, Aleksashenko said.