Mature businessman hiding money in his pocket
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Former governor Mikhail Yurevich, who is suspected of taking bribes worth 26 million rubles ($460,000), live in London. Source: Aleksandr Kondratuk/RIA Novosti
Authorities in Yekaterinburg are waiting to question former governor Mikhail Yurevich, who is suspected of taking bribes worth 26 million rubles ($460,000). The court refused to arrest the politician in absentia, having found no sufficient grounds. However, investigators have put him on the international wanted list, although his representatives are not hiding his whereabouts: He is in London and is in no hurry to return for interrogation, reports (in Russian) Lenta.ru. In which other countries are Russian politicians hiding?
Former State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov, who was suspected of raiding a building in the center of Moscow worth five million dollars, shot dead in the center of Kiev. Source: Reuters
At the beginning of February it became known that former State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov moved to Ukraine with his wife, former parliamentarian Maria Maksakova, where he received citizenship. Meanwhile, in Moscow a criminal case was launched against him on suspicion that he had raided a building in the center of Moscow worth five million dollars.
Head of the Russian Investigative Committee - Alexander Bastrykin - said that Voronenkov had fled, hiding from prosecution. Voronenkov, on the other hand, explained that he left Russia because "Moscow is a mean city" (unlike Kiev, where "kind, good, soulful people live") and called the criminal case illegal. Moscow placed the former parliamentarian on the international wanted list and he testified in the state treason case in Kiev against former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich. On March 23, Voronenkov was shot dead in the center of Kiev.
Another former State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev, who had also been placed on the international wanted list, received a permit of stay in Ukraine. He is accused of participating in the embezzlement of more than 22 million rubles ($389 million) from the Skolkovo Foundation.
Ponomarev left Russia in the fall of 2014, before he was placed on the international wanted list - first to the U.S. and then to Ukraine. He promised to return to Russia and testify only if he was not arrested and the ban on travelling abroad was lifted.
State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev, who had been placed on the international wanted list, received a permit of stay in Ukraine. Source: Alexey Vitvitsky/RIA Novosti
Criminal proceedings were launched against senator and founder of Mezhprombank Sergei Pugachev in 2001 in relation to the bank's deliberate bankruptcy. Pugachev then used a diplomatic passport to fly to Nice and did not return to Russia. Four years later it was revealed that Pugachev left the UK, where he was living at the time.
Interpol placed the former senator on the international wanted list several times and in 2014 even issued, upon demand from the Russian authorities, the so-called "red order," which allows police to immediately arrest the person once he is found. Despite all this, Pugachev remains at large.
Criminal proceedings were launched against senator and founder of Mezhprombank Sergei Pugachev in 2001 in relation to the bank's deliberate bankruptcy. Pugachev then used a diplomatic passport to fly to Nice and did not return to Russia. Source: Vladimir Rodionov and Sergei Velichkin/TASS
The term of criminal prosecution may soon expire for former Minister of Finance of the Moscow Region Alexei Kuznetsov, who is accused of stealing 14 billion rubles (over $248 million) from the region's treasury. It became known that Kuznetsov is suspected of fraud, embezzlement, and the legalization of illegally obtained property in 2008. Afterwards, he and his wife Janna Bullock left for the U.S. The law-enforcement agencies were able to find three of the ex minister's accomplices, who were handed prison sentences. Kuznetsov's wife, who was also involved in the crimes, is still hiding in the U.S., with which Russia does not have an extradition agreement.
Former Minister of Finance of the Moscow Region Alexei Kuznetsov is accused of stealing 14 billion rubles (over $248 million) from the region's treasury. He and his wife Janna Bullock left for the U.S.
Moscow had a chance to put Kuznetsov on trial three years ago. A court in France, where the former minister was detained, decided to extradite him to Russia, but the process was delayed. A month ago the Lyon court freed Alexei Kuznetsov from house arrest. However, in 2015 France launched criminal proceedings against Kuznetsov for laundering money that was illegally earned in the country. Therefore, it seems that he will not be able to avoid trial after all.
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