"Not a bribe, but reimbursement of expenses!": the court was unable to choose a preventive measure for the top of "Tatarstan Bank"

      Three employees of the Investigative Committee participated in the meeting, and the detained Alexander Slepo denied his guilt in corruption.

      Photo: Dinar Fatyhov

      The Soviet District Court of Kazan has just extended the detention of Alexander Slepo, the deputy manager of the regional branch of "Bank Tatarstan" of PJSC "Sberbank," for another 72 hours. By Monday, Judge Sergey Aptulin requested investigators to present additional data to justify suspicions against the banker regarding a corruption crime. During the meeting, the accused confirmed receiving a bribe of 300 thousand from a contractor. "This is not a bribe, but reimbursement of my expenses!" - reports a journalist from "Realnoe Vremya" from the court.

      As our sources note, there are testimonies in the case indicating that a meeting of the regional branch in the IT park building in September 2024, for which half a million was allocated from the budget, did not take place. The funds were used to cover expenses for a bank corporate event held in August, which included a trip to the river, glamping rental, and paddleboarding.

      Dinar Fatyhov / realnoevremya.ru

      Three employees of the Investigative Committee for the Soviet District of Kazan participated in the meeting. The request for Slepo's detention was made by the deputy head of the department, Bulat Karimov. His position was fully supported by the deputy prosecutor of the district, Elza Khisamutdinova.

      Lawyers Rustam Gubaidullin and Yulia Zarubina opposed this. They stated that Alexander Slepo has an impeccable career of over 20 years in the bank and that since the time of the alleged events in 2024, he had made no attempts to hide or cover up any traces of his actions.

      During the meeting, the accused in the bribery case reminded that he has been working at Sber since 1999: "I have gone from a substitute cashier to the position of deputy branch manager... I oversee cash centers where there is security, valuables, and weapons. I have repeatedly conducted training [for employees] on what constitutes inadequate behavior. I regularly undergo polygraph tests and know what that entails."

      Dinar Fatyhov / realnoevremya.ru

      It later became clear that the banker considers the motive for the actions he is accused of—crediting the same banknotes to his personal account that a private entrepreneur, the alleged briber, had withdrawn from the central branch of the bank just earlier—to be inadequate.

      "I admit that I took the amount from the contractor through my employees. But this was not a bribe; it was an amount reimbursing my expenses! <...> And this amount is confirmed <...> Not a bribe, but real reimbursement of incurred expenses! I am not so foolish as to deposit an amount onto my credit card, knowing that such deviant behavior... " In response to the judge's clarifying question about the reasons for what happened, the accused explained that recently, in one of the Tatarstan branches, one of the employees was detained for bribery, after which the internal bank security service began checking all incoming funds to employees' accounts. At the same time, Slepo reiterated that there was no bribery in his actions. "I do not deny the fact of receiving funds. Polukejeva, Kekina, and Bagavieva were detained, and to avoid getting into pre-trial detention, I believe they slandered me," the accused stated.

      Recall that according to the version of the Investigative Committee, FSB, and Ministry of Internal Affairs employees, the deputy head of the bank's regional branch received an illegal reward of 300 thousand rubles in September 2024 for protecting a service provider and assisting in obtaining contracts. During the meeting, Bulat Karimov noted that the money was transferred through an intermediary.

      Dinar Fatyhov / realnoevremya.ru

      From the materials announced at the meeting, it became clear that in addition to Slepo, three women were detained in the case—the alleged briber and two intermediaries. None of them were brought to the court for a preventive measure, as they all provided confessions. The nuance is that separate cases were initiated against these women, so in the case of the Sber top management, they are currently being treated as witnesses.

      It was also stated that the very 300 thousand rubles were taken from the amount of a state contract for half a million allocated for holding a bankers' meeting for 70 people in the IT park building. The defense's version is that the recipient of the contract only transferred the part of the money that was personally spent by Slepo on the event.

      The defense's position was based on several arguments. The key one was that Slepo did not have the authority to choose the contractor since the local branch only formulates requests, while the organization of tenders and the determination of the winner is handled by a Sber division located in Nizhny Novgorod. Whoever they choose, Slepo will work with, the lawyers emphasized, adding that the contract with the supplier and the acts of completed work were signed by another person at "Bank Tatarstan."

      At the same time, the defenders insisted, following their client, that it was he who incurred the expenses for holding the banking event, although they did not specify to journalists what exactly was purchased. Notably, one of the sources of "Realnoe Vremya" claims that during the interrogation and in the course of a confrontation, the detained banker allegedly stated that the format of "reimbursing expenses for the corporate event in August by conducting a tender for an off-site meeting in September" was chosen "collectively." This happened only once or periodically—this may be established by the investigation. It should be noted that in such an interpretation of events, one can also see the elements of fraud with the diversion of funds from the bank's budget, which is 50% owned by the Russian Federation and has one voting share.

      Earlier, a "version" about a kickback for the renovation of Sber's headquarters, highlighted by one of the publications, does not correspond to reality. But in theory, the renovation story could become a new episode in the case.

      A repeated hearing regarding the preventive measure is scheduled for Monday. Meanwhile, this evening, the women detained in connection with the transfer of 300 thousand rubles were released under a non-leaving pledge and an obligation to appear.

      More news about the event:

      "It was not a bribe, but expenses that I incurred!": the deputy manager of Tatarstan's Sber was returned to the pre-trial detention center.

      Alexander Slepo's detention was extended for another 72 hours.

      "I regularly undergo polygraph tests and value my job very much." 19:08 07.08.2026 Business Online - Kazan

      The detention of the deputy manager of Tatarstan's Sber was extended for 72 hours.

      The Soviet District Court of Kazan extended the detention of Alexander Slepo, the deputy manager of Tatarstan's Sber branch, for 72 hours. 18:38 07.08.2026 Business Online - Kazan

      "It is not a bribe, but reimbursement of expenses!": the court could not choose a preventive measure for the top of "Bank Tatarstan."

      Three employees of the Investigative Committee participated in the meeting, and the detained Alexander Slepo denied his guilt in corruption.

      Photo: 18:33 07.08.2026 Realnoe Vremya - Kazan

      The Investigative Committee requests the arrest of the deputy head of "Bank Tatarstan" in the bribery case.

      News Service Author of the article

      AI Illustration created with the help of AI

      Alexander Slepo, the deputy head of the "Bank Tatarstan" branch of Sberbank, has been brought to the Soviet District Court of Kazan. 17:47 07.08.2026 ProKazan.Ru - Kazan