MOSCOW, June 1 - RAPSI. A Siberian refinery director has been fined $546,800 for paying a $9,000 bribe to a technical inspector.

The court has established that in March, Trasenergoservice Director Alexander Kulakov, whose responsibilities include the control of a refinery, intended to produce oil products without the necessary license, as the refinery building did not meet the standards set by the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision.

"Kulakov decided to pay a bribe to speed up the process of obtaining the documents in order to save time and avoid losses. He agreed to pay a Service inspector he knew 300,000 rubles ($9,000) in exchange for warning about future inspections and assistance in obtaining a permit to start production," reads the press release.

After Kulakov paid the money, he was detained. The court has imposed a fine sixty times larger than the value of the bribe. Kulakov is allowed to pay the fine in installments over five years.