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Russian billionaire Rybolovlev’s wife detained in Cyprus

Rybolovlev was the biggest sole shareholder in the country’s leading Bank of Cyprus

Dmitry Rybolovlev ITAR-TASS

Dmitry Rybolovlev

NICOSIA, February 24 /ITAR-TASS/. Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev’s wife, Yelena, has been detained in Cyprus, a Limassol criminal police official told ITAR-TASS on Monday, February 24.

“She has been arrested under a warrant issued on charges of property theft from a company that filed a complaint against her with the police of Cyprus,” the official said, adding that she was being questioned and would remain in custody for 24 hours, after which time the authorities would decide on their further actions.

Yelena Rybolovleva flew into Cyprus from Switzerland by a private jet earlier in the day and is now at a police station in Limassol, the police official said but did not specify the grounds for her detention.

However local mass media say that she has been detained under a lawsuit filed by Domus Trust lawyers in connection with “the theft of the trust’s property.” They may be referring to a 25 million euro diamond ring.

The newspaper Cyprus Mail published a statement issued by a Bolton Trustees attorney who had filed the lawsuit on behalf of Domus Trust. It claims that Yelena Rybolovleva borrowed the ring from the trust, then gave it to her daughter in Switzerland in 2009 and never returned it.

Her daughter, residing in Switzerland, is believed to be holding the ring.

The Rybolovlevs are going through a strained divorce process started in 2008. Prior to the financial crisis in Cyprus, Rybolovlev was the biggest sole shareholder in the country’s leading Bank of Cyprus, owing almost 10% of its securities worth about 400 million euros.

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