MOSCOW, March 7 - RAPSI. A court in the Vladimir Region will hear a criminal case against a former Alexandrov city mayor charged with receiving a large-scale bribe, the Prosecutor General's Office reports on Wednesday.

Gennady Simin is not the only suspect. City administration official Viktor Chizhov and businessman Vladimir Korolev are also involved in the case.

Prosecutors maintain that in April 2008 a local businessman asked Simin to permit him build a residential building on a site not designated for this purpose. The mayor agreed in exchange for a two-room apartment in the new building. Chizhov acted as the intermediary.

Further, investigators believe that Simin lent in 2006 about $20,000 to an acquaintance for three months. The debtor asked for a loan deferment and Simin agreed on the condition that he would give him his apartment in case of another default.

Simin's debtor never managed to repay what he owed and the mayor took his passport and $6,000 and threatened him. The debtor then left the city. Subsequently, Simin and Korolev managed to intimidate the debtor's ex-wife into giving him her cafe worth roughly $68,000.

The ex-mayor faces up to 10 years in prison.