Moscow tax official held on bribery charge

MOSCOW, May 24 (UPI) -- A high-ranking Russian tax official has been arrested on charges of taking a $60,000 bribe from a construction company in Moscow, a report said Wednesday.

The bribe was intended "to conceal tax violations that were uncovered during an inspection conducted together with other tax officials," prosecutors told Russian news agency Interfax.

Prosecutors said police witnessed a manager of the unnamed construction company deliver $60,000 to the tax official as he sat in a parked car.

The unidentified official was the chief tax inspector of a Moscow arm of the Russian Federal Tax Service, the report said.