December 4, 2014. The sentence pronounced on two of Uralkhimplast’s former employees Irina Rusakova and Maria Usoltseva has taken effect: the two women were found guilty of a breach of commercial confidentiality (Article 183 (part 1) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code).

The spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region’s prosecution authorities reports that these women started collecting data on their former employer’s activity after they had left the company. In July-December 2012, Maria Usoltseva received multimedia messages on the company’s range of products, prices, amount of deliveries, and customers from Uralkhimplast’s chief economist Varnina. This information was handed over to Irina Rusakova.

‘The data were used to sell Uralkhimplast’s produce at lower prices via an intermediary company they had set up. As a result, the enterprise suffered losses,’ the spokesperson explains.

Nizhniy Tagil Dzerzhinsky District Court found Varnina guilty of a breach of commercial confidentiality (Article 183 (Part 2) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code) in January 2014 and sentenced her to six months of community service, with 10% of her income going to the state.

Irina Rusakova and Maria Usoltseva were each sentenced to a 40,000-ruble fine.

Sverdlovsk Region court supported the previous court’s ruling and dismissed the writ of appeal submitted by one of the accused and her lawyer: the latter insisted on absence of the event of a crime.