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Brother of former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's wife to evidence in court on charges of fraud

Viktor Baturin insists he is innocent

MOSCOW, May 13 (Itar-Tass) - A businessman Viktor Baturin will give evidence in the Gagarinsky Court of Moscow, which hears the case on fraud with INTECO’s promissory notes.

After the interrogation of Baturin, the court is expected to hear the sides, and the prosecutor will suggest a penalty for the entrepreneur.

Baturin insisted he was innocent. "My attitude to the charges has not changed since the beginning. I acted in good faith: I came to show promissory notes. It's my money, they have to return it," the businessman stated earlier.

Baturin is brother of former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's wife. He was placed under arrest on November 30, 2011. He was charged with several counts of grand fraud, including attempted theft of 10.8 million roubles under fake promissory notes of the INTEKO Company and attempted theft of 5.6 billion roubles.

According to the investigator, on November 28, 2011, he presented a false promissory note of the INTEKO Company at its office at 28, Sadovaya-Spasskaya Street. It was worth 10.8 million roubles, and Baturin demanded immediate payment. INTEKO personnel had misgivings regarding the authenticity of the promissory note. They called police who detained Viktor Baturin.

"One can conclude from the defendant's testimony that he was aware that the security was not authentic. In addition, he stated he had signed this promissory note at direct order of INTEKO president, his sister Yelena Baturina, and that there were several such promissory notes in his office," the Interior Ministry's main office reported then.

"My client denies any fraud; he believes INTEKO vice-president Oleg Soloshchansky slandered him," Baturin's lawyer Igor Shabanov said. The entrepreneur claimed it is impossible to forge a promissory note in principle, as only a single copy can be issued.

In June 2011, Moscow's Presnya Court gave Baturin a three-year suspended sentence for a real estate fraud. He did not challenge the decision acknowledging that the verdict had not evoked any special emotions in him. "A verdict is a verdict; a severe reprimand on record; nothing to worry about," Baturin said.

He expressed the opinion that the case against him had been doctored and that it was connected to Yuri Luzhkov's resignation and Yelena Baturina's financial dispute. He did not rule out new criminal cases against him.

Earlier, investigators dropped a 23-millioin-rouble tax evasion case against him due to the statute of limitation. On April 9, 2012, more than 1.3 million roubles were collected from Baturin after a court granted a claim by the Sochi administration. The sum was recovered to pay Baturin's debt for leasing a land plot on the premises of an Adler health resort in the period from 2008 through to 2010.