The Bokov Affair: Russian high ranking police official detained, faces $46 mln embezzlement charges

The head of the CIS anti-organized crime bureau, Lt.Gen. Alexander Bokov, has been detained in Moscow on embezzlement charges, spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin said on Wednesday.

Bokov, whose 2009 registered annual income was one million rubles (about $33,000), has been accused of stealing $46 million.

The official is suspected of extorting $46 million in 2005 from a Russian businessman for assistance in buying a majority stake in a transport company, Markin said.

"The businessman handed at least $4.5 million to Bokov's accomplices in 2006, but Bokov didn't make any moves on the deal," the spokesman said.