MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian Investigative Committee (SK) actually rejected Monday a statement by blogger Alexei Navalny that former finance minister of the Moscow Region Alexei Kuznetsov was put on the wanted list through the Interpol only after Navalny’s address in the Investigative Committee and the Interior Ministry last January.
The former high-ranking Moscow regional official was put on the federal wanted list on October 1, 2010, “but after the information that Kuznetsov crossed the Russian border was confirmed - on October 25, 2010 - he was put on the international wanted list.”
Moreover, in November 2012 at an Interpol General Assembly session in Rome the chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee had a meeting with Interpol Secretary General Robert Noble, at which the issues of search and detention of several defendants in the criminal cases, who are escaping from the Russian law enforcement agencies, including Alexei Kuznetsov. Last January Alexander Bastrykin had a meeting with the chief of the French national police, where these issues were raised as well.
“After the mentioned meetings the search for Kuznetsov was intensified substantially,” the SK source said.
SK recalled that the SK Main Investigation Department ruled to bring to justice back on June 24, 2010 former first deputy prime minister of the Moscow Region - finance minister of the Moscow Region Alexei Kuznetsov on the charges under Article 159 Part 4 for a massive fraud committed by an organized criminal group, Article 174.1 Part 3 for the legalization of property acquired by a person by the means of committing a crime and a measure of restraint for putting him in custody was imposed on him in absentia.
“If Kuznetsov is brought back to the territory of the Russian Federation he will face the accusation, and the detectives will take all the measures to finalize the investigation as quickly as possible,” the SK source added.
“To execute the court verdict over the claims contained in the lawsuit and a possible confiscation the property of defendant Kuznetsov was arrested, including eight land plots in the Moscow Region, two flats in Moscow and two cars,” the SK source recalled. The investigation of the criminal case against members of the organized criminal group Yelena Kuznetsova, Valery Nosov and Vyacheslav Telepnev was finalized, and they are studying the files of the criminal case.
Alexei Kuznetsov was accused in absentia of fraud in the housing and public utility sector to the tune of 3.5 billion roubles. Last Friday, at the request of the Russian law enforcement agencies he was detained in southern France, not far from the resort town Saint-Tropez by the Toulon police and was put under arrest prior to the extradition. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office is preparing a request for his extradition.