Russia arrests ex-prison chief in $46 mn corruption probe

A Russian court ordered the arrest Tuesday of the former head of the country`s prison system, who is accused of stealing millions from a state contract for electronic bracelets.

The ex-chief of the notorious federal penitentiary service, Alexander Reimer, was arrested along with two of his staff for allegedly embezzling 2.7 billion rubles from the state ($45.7 million), Russia`s Investigative Committee said.

Reimer and his accomplices "stole over 2.7 billion rubles that was allocated... for procurement of electronic bracelets to the service," said the statement.

The accused purchased the equipment at vastly inflated prices, setting the price as high as 128,000 rubles for a device that costs only 19,000 rubles (about $330).

The electronic bracelets "cost the state budget more than gold jewellery", investigators said.

Russian channels showed Reimer sitting in a cage in the courtroom in Moscow holding up a piece of paper to hide his face from the media.

Corruption, particularly surrounding inflated government contracts, is a widely reported problem in Russia which fuelled protests against President Vladimir Putin ahead of his election in 2012, but high-level officials are rarely prosecuted.