MOSCOW, December 24 (RAPSI) – Andrey Sinitsa, formerly a Moscow judicial clerk, was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for soliciting $80,000 from a litigating party, the Prosecutor-General’s Office reported Tuesday.

Sinitsa formerly clerked for a judge working with Moscow’s Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals.

In June, Sinitsa approached the claimant in one of the commercial cases that was being heard in the court with an offer to assist in its resolution in favor of the claimant, according to the statement released by the  Prosecutor-General Office.

The court’s clerk was detained in July when he was provided with money offered for his services in the deal. He faced up to ten years in prison on charges of attempt to commit fraud on a large scale by way of his position.

The statement does not provide any further details on the illegal deal or the case in question.