MOSCOW, April 7 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – A court in Nizhny Novgorod on Thursday sentenced regional Minister of Industry, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Alexander Makarov, to 4.5 years in prison for abuse of office, RAPSI learnt in the Investigative Committee’s press service.

Makarov was also prohibited by court from holding posts in government bodies for 2 years.

Defense will file an appeal against the ruling.

According to investigation, in 2012, Makarov, then Minister for Public Property and Land Resources of the Nizhny Novgorod region, illegally transferred a land plot with an area of more than 17,000 square meters to a commercial organization for exploitation the company’s building standing on it. The plot owned by the Nizhny Novgorod region was sold for 130,000 rubles ($1,900).

Investigstors found that Makarov abused his authority and sold a public space reducing the plot’s market value by 60 million rubles ($876,000).