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Financier William Browder says detained in Spain at Russia’s request

Moscow court earlier found Browder guilty in absentia of large-scale tax evasion estimated at more than $48 mln and sentenced him to nine years in prison

William Browder EPA-EFE/ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN

William Browder

© EPA-EFE/ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN

MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. British financier William Browder, the founder of Hermitage Capital Management, has been detained in Spain at Russia’s request, as he himself wrote on Twitter.

"In the back of the Spanish police car going to the station on the Russian arrest warrant. They won’t tell me which station," the tweet reads.

In the back of the Spanish police car going to the station on the Russian arrest warrant. They won’t tell me which station pic.twitter.com/Xwj27xC7Zd
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) 30 May 2018

Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court earlier found Browder guilty in absentia of large-scale tax evasion estimated at more than three bln rubles ($48 mln) and sentenced him to nine years in prison. The same sentence was slapped on Browder’s business partner Ivan Cherkasov. In addition, the court upheld a lawsuit against Browder and Cherkasov worth 4.2 bln rubles ($67 mln). In January, Browder’s lawyers filed an appeal against the court’s ruling.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s office has many times requested Interpol to arrest Browder. The latest news about such a request came in December 2017.

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