The day before, he was caught red-handed while receiving a large bribe and a criminal case was opened against him.
32-year-old major of justice Oleg Polizhaev headed the department for the investigation of crimes in the field of economics of the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Primorsky district in St. Petersburg. According to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, on May 4, Polizhaev was caught red-handed in the courtyard of one of the houses on Ilyushin Street while receiving a bribe from a local resident. The transfer of money took place through an intermediary. According to the investigation, Major Polizhaev was to receive 1 million rubles for a promise not to prosecute or send the case to court against the man who gave the bribe. The bag that Polizhaev received contained 15,000 rubles and a dummy of money in the amount of 985,000 rubles. During the arrest, Polizhaev tried to get rid of the evidence – he threw away his bag, money and dummies with traces of a forensic drug and tried to escape. He also resisted members of the Department of Homeland Security.
In court, Oleg Polizhaev, the former chief for combating economic crimes, pleaded not guilty and asked for house arrest. The court did not find evidence “testifying to the need to isolate the accused from society in a special institution”, noted that the accused “has strong social ties, is socially settled, has no previous convictions” and granted the defense’s petition.
Oleg Polizhaev will remain under house arrest until July 3, 2023 during the investigation. Part 5 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for giving a bribe a fine of 2 to 4 million rubles with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions for a period of up to ten years, or imprisonment for a period of 7 to 12 years with a fine and restriction of professional activity.
