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Russian senator’s attorneys to challenge French tax evasion charges

Prosecutors in the French city of Nice have launched a new investigation against Suleiman Kerimov

Suleiman Kerimov Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

Suleiman Kerimov

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. Russian senator Suleiman Kerimov, who is accused of tax evasion in France, is currently in Moscow and his lawyers will file an appeal, his aide Alexei Krasovsky told TASS.

"Suleiman Kerimov is at his workplace in Moscow. His attorneys will challenge these illegal and unfounded accusations," Krasovsky said.

Prosecutors in the French city of Nice have launched a new investigation against Russian businessman and senator Suleiman Kerimov on charges of collusion in a large-scale tax evasion, Prosecutor of Nice Jean-Michel Pretre told TASS earlier on Wednesday.

The court’s session was held on Tuesday evening and the senator paid a 20-mln euro bail. According to the prosecutor, on Tuesday Kerimov was in France.

Kerimov’s charges

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Suleiman Kerimov, a member of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house, was detained at the Nice airport overnight to November 21, 2017. Right after his detention, Moscow informed Paris that as a senator, he had diplomatic immunity. However, the French Foreign Ministry said that Kerimov’s diplomatic immunity was applicable only to his official duties.

On the following day, Kerimov was charged with money laundering and tax evasion to the tune of up to 750 mln euros. The court of Nice ruled to release the senator on a 5-mln euro bail.

In late June 2018, a court of France’s Aix-en-Provence dropped all charges against the Russian senator. His lawyer Nikita Sychev told TASS that France did not introduce any new charges against Kerimov. According to his aide Krasovsky, on June 29 the senator returned to Moscow and resumed fulfilling his duties.

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