AKIPRESS.COM - Igor Sechin, head of Russia's biggest oil company Rosneft, set up a personal meeting with a government minister for what was in fact a law enforcement sting, after which state investigators charged the minister with receiving a $2 million bribe, two sources familiar with the case told Reuters.

Alexei Ulyukayev, who at the time was minister for economic development, was detained in the late night operation on Nov. 14 at Rosneft's Moscow headquarters. It was the first time in decades a serving Russian minister had been arrested. Ulyukayev, 60, denies the charges.

The Investigative Committee, the state body investigating the case, said in a statement at the time that Ulyukayev had extorted the $2 million in return for giving his ministry's approval for an acquisition that Rosneft made last year.

The operation at the Rosneft offices, just across the Moskva river from the Kremlin, was planned in advance by law enforcement agencies in conjunction with unnamed Rosneft officials, the state investigators said.

To make the operation happen, Sechin, in coordination with law enforcement officers, arranged to meet the minister in person that night at the Rosneft offices, according to the two sources. Reuters was unable to confirm their accounts independently.

At that meeting, Sechin was present when Ulyukayev was handed a large amount of cash, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to discuss the case publicly.

The money that the minister is alleged to have received at the meeting is now part of the prosecution's case against Ulyukayev, the sources said. He was fired from his job soon after his arrest, and is under house arrest awaiting trial.

Asked about Sechin's involvement in the sting operation as outlined by the two sources, a Rosneft representative said: "Rosneft does not have the right to comment on investigative activities. We suggest approaching the Investigative Committee with this query."

The Investigative Committee did not respond to a request for comment. In a Nov. 15 statement, it said it had been able to detain Ulyukayev "thanks to Rosneft representatives alerting law enforcement agencies in a timely fashion about the minister's illegal actions".