Sergei Storchak, who was supposed to accompany Russia's finance minister on a trip to South Africa, was detained late Thursday in Moscow, outside the ministry's building.
"According to information the Russian Finance Ministry has received, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak has been detained," the ministry's press service said in a statement.
"The detention may be related to a criminal case against third parties who are not ministry's
employees," it said.
Meanwhile, a law enforcement source said on Friday that Storchak had been detained in connection with a criminal investigation into his activities. The source did not specify what charges were to be brought against the official.
Russia's Criminal Code permits the detention of suspected criminals for 48 hours without an arrest warrant issued by a court.
A Moscow court will review the case Saturday and decide whether to arrest Storchak or let him go, based on charges officially pressed by the prosecutors.
"The Finance Ministry is hoping that the investigation will be as impartial as possible," the ministry's statement said.
Sergei Storchak assumed his current post in November 2005. In 2004, when he was still head of the international finance and foreign debt department in the ministry, his deputy was arrested on graft charges.
Denis Mikhailov, who oversaw contacts with international rating agencies and western investors in the ministry, was accused of passing confidential financial information to two businessmen, and receiving a 87,000-euro car as "remuneration."
He was originally sentenced to 10 years in prison, but Russia's Supreme Court later reduced the sentence to five years.
