Former Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukaev / Ivan Sekretarev / AP

Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky Court has refused to read out the testimony of Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin in the case of former Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukaev, given during the preliminary investigation. This was requested by prosecutor Boris Neporozhny.

Lawyer Timofey Gridnev protests: for us, the presence of witness Sechin is fundamental. The defense asked the court to summon him for questioning again, since failure to appear, according to the lawyer, is in fact a waiver of the charges brought. Neporozhny, in turn, stated that sending new summonses will only lead to a delay in the trial. "We consider it necessary to complete the investigation and move on to the parties' debate," he said.

The court refused to call Sechin for questioning and announced that the trial was closed . The prosecutor and lawyers asked for time to prepare for the debate. The next hearing is scheduled for December 4, it will begin at 11:00.

Sechin is the main witness in the Ulyukaev case. The head of Rosneft was summoned to court to testify in the Ulyukaev case four times, but he never showed up. According to the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, on November 13, Sechin was in Sochi and took part in Russian-Turkish negotiations. On November 15, Sechin did not show up in court because he was on a business trip, reported Rosneft press secretary Mikhail Leontyev. On November 22, Sechin missed the hearing because he was on a business trip in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. On November 27, the head of Rosneft was in Rome. The court received a letter from Sechin's lawyer, who reported that the Rosneft head's schedule was very tight until the end of the year, and therefore he would not be able to take part in the trial. He conveyed through his lawyer that he had nothing to add to the testimony already given and that he did not object to its disclosure.

"You can consider the mission accomplished": full transcript of Sechin and Ulyukaev's negotiations

Business / Fuel and energy complex

"If there is a witness, he must testify in court. If he cannot for a good reason, then his testimony must be read out in court. But if neither of these things happened, then the testimony given at the investigation stage is not taken into account by the court and is not used as the basis for the sentence when rendering a verdict," notes criminal lawyer at the Moscow Bar Association "Tsentrjurservis" Ilya Prokofiev.

The case cannot be done without Sechin’s testimony; the court is obliged to examine it, lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov told Vedomosti: “If there is no bribe giver, there is no bribe taker; the case can be returned to the prosecutor due to the incompleteness of the investigation.”

In total, Sechin was interrogated three times during the investigation, the BBC Russian Service reported : the morning after Ulyukaev's arrest - on November 15, then on January 17, and the third interrogation took place on May 31. The case materials contain four protocols related to Sechin, one of which is a statement to the FSB, Leontyev specified. The BBC Russian Service claimed that it had familiarized itself with copies of Sechin's interrogation protocols: according to these documents, he testified that during a meeting in Goa, Ulyukaev demanded that he be thanked for a positive decision on the privatization of Bashneft and showed the amount of the reward with a two-finger gesture. Sechin also claimed that Ulyukaev himself subsequently called him and insisted on an urgent meeting.

According to investigators, Ulyukaev, while serving as the Minister of Economic Development, demanded $2 million from Rosneft for a positive conclusion that would allow it to buy the state-owned stake in Bashneft. Ulyukaev was detained on November 14, 2016, after a meeting with Sechin at Rosneft. A bag containing banknotes marked by operatives was found in his car. Ulyukaev himself does not admit guilt. According to him, the FSB organized a provocation against him based on false denunciations from Sechin and FSB General Oleg Feoktistov, who headed Rosneft's security service. The minister claims that when he took the bag, he thought it contained wine.

What secrets became clear at the trial of Ulyukaev 1 / 8

How to show two fingers correctly
"Ulyukaev extorted a bribe from Sechin by showing him the amount in the form of two fingers," the prosecutor said in the case materials. During a break between meetings of the BRICS summit in Goa, Rosneft President Igor Sechin played billiards with VTB President Andrei Kostin. Witnesses testified that former Minister Alexei Ulyukaev had no more than five minutes to demand the money, and he could only do so in Kostin's presence / Evgeny Razumny / Vedomosti

Sechin's testimony will not be read out in Ulyukaev's trial