Switzerland’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office and Russian General Prosecutor’s Office maintain relations that go beyond formal cooperation. Now, this relationship is to be reviewed by the court. Continue reading
International Media
Rogue states
Cross-border policing can be political
Four years ago this week the whistle-blowing accountant Sergei Magnitsky died in jail from beatings and abuse, having uncovered a $230m fraud against the Russian state. His client Bill Browder, a London-based financier, has been campaigning to punish those responsible with visa bans and asset freezes. But the Russian authorities have retaliated and are trying to extradite him on fraud charges, using Interpol, the world police co-operation body. Continue reading
Russian banker with an English palace and a dangerous feud
He is the billionaire banker who left Russia for Britain just hours before he could be detained. Granted political asylum in February – to the fury of President Vladimir Putin – Andrey Borodin has settled in the UK, taking up residence with his wife and daughter in Britain’s most expensive home.
Now, in his first face-to-face interview since he arrived in March 2011, the former president of the Bank of Moscow has warned David Cameron to beware of the Russian leader. Continue reading
Death threat against ‘the new Berezovsky’
Detectives investigating the “unexplained” death of Boris Berezovsky, the Russian oligarch, are looking into an alleged plot to kill a second Russian tycoon living in exile in Britain.
Police say they are carrying out an “ongoing investigation” after being told of a conspiracy to murder Andrey Borodin, a billionaire banker. Continue reading
The price of doing business in Russia
Recent extradition case in the UK highlights how corrupt officials work with businesses to stamp out rival competition in Russia.
A landmark decision by the Westminster Magistrates Court in London could make the issuing of extradition orders against Russian businessmen wanted by the Russian Federation’s authorities much more difficult. Continue reading
A Magnitsky law for Europe
The US statute is a pro-Russian, not anti-Russian, act
Even by its own recent standards, Moscow’s response to the US Magnitsky law, which bars Russian officials accused of human rights violations from the US, has been ugly. President Vladimir Putin last week signed into law a ban on US citizens adopting Russian children. In effect, this strands thousands of Russia’s most vulnerable citizens in often appalling orphanages, as hostages to US-Russian relations. Continue reading
If you go against the Kremlin, you’ve got to pay
Exiled in London, the fallen oligarch Andrey Borodin talks about the system of power and opposition in Russia
Tristan de Bourbon – London
Exiled to the UK for the last year and a half, Andrey Borodin paints a terrifying picture of the system that governs his country.
What are you doing in London?
I left my country at the end of March 2011 for a family weekend celebrating the birthday of my daughter. I haven’t been back to my country since then. In just a few months I became an enemy of the Kremlin, in particular prime minister Dmitry Medvedev because I dared to go against his wishes a bit too forcefully. Continue reading
Appeal in suit on invalidity of Bank of Moscow shares transfer postponed
MOSCOW, October 30 – RAPSI. The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals will hear on November 20 Sergei Devyatkin’s appeal against the dismissal of his lawsuit to invalidate the transfer from the Moscow government of its shares in the Bank of Moscow to VTB Bank, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Tuesday.
Continue readingRussian police deliberately misinform foreign colleagues
Interfax: Russia & CIS General Newswire
Ex-Bank of Moscow CEO Andrei Borodin has accused Russian police of deliberately distorting facts in the decision to initiate his prosecution and to arrest his foreign assets.
“The attack on me continues. They present either old or unreliable information,” Borodin told Interfax by phone on Wednesday night.
Continue readingTycoon fears Putin enforcers
An exiled Russian banker has called in the police after a mystery chase on the M4
A RUSSIAN tycoon who fled Moscow claiming to be a victim of Kremlin persecution fears he may be the target of the Russian security services in Britain.
Andrey Borodin, a billionaire banker, claimed he had recently been the target of a surveillance operation at his new home near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
The fugitive tycoon, who has spent about £50,000 funding human rights groups fighting abuses by the Kremlin, said he had called in police after a car being driven by Mario Hinterdorfer, his personal assistant, was involved in a high-speed chase on the M4 in August. Continue reading