MOSCOW, June 27 (RAPSI) - Initiation of a bribery case against Kirov region governor Nikita Belykh does not contravene the law, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said in an interview with the Vesti FM radio station on Monday.

Earlier, defense for Belykh claimed that the case was opened by a senior investigator illegally. According to the lawyers, the case had to be launched by the head of the Investigative Committee’s Directorate in the Kirov region.

Belykh has been officially charged with taking EUR 400,000 in bribes. Investigators in cooperation with the Federal Security Service’s (FSB) officers arrested him on June 24 in a Moscow restaurant while he was allegedly accepting EUR 150,000, the third part of the bribe, according to Markin.

Investigators believe that Belykh took the money, personally and through an intermediary, in exchange for protection of investment business in the region.

On Saturday, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow ordered the detention of the Kirov Region governor until August 24.