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Russian tycoon Sergei Polonsky granted citizenship of the Kingdom of Cambodia

Polonsky now intends to seek Israeli citizenship

Archive Photo ITAR-TASS/ Mitya Aleshkovsky

Archive Photo ITAR-TASS/ Mitya Aleshkovsky

MOSCOW, September 12 (Itar-Tass) - Russian tycoon Sergei Polonsky was granted citizenship of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Southeast Asia, and hopes that criminal prosecution against him will be terminated in that country soon, Polonsky’s lawyer Diana Tatosova told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

“Polonsky was granted a passport of Cambodia recently; he is staying in the country and we expect that criminal prosecution against him over the incident with the sailors will be terminated soon,” Tatosova said.

The lawyer added that Polonsky intends to seek Israeli citizenship. “We have not received a reply to a request for Israeli citizenship yet, but if we are denied it we intend to appeal and seek for an Israeli passport to Polonsky,” the lawyer added.

The lawyer also noted that she is prepared for different outcomes of criminal prosecution against Polonsky in Cambodia, either termination of the criminal case over absence of corpus delicti or his conviction to a term at the Cambodian prison that he had already served.

“We hope for the termination of this criminal case within several weeks,” Tatosova said in conclusion.

Polonsky and two of his associates Konstantin Baglai and Aleksander Karachinsky were detained in Cambodia on December 30, 2012. The incident onboard the motorship caused their detention. The crewmen of the motorship said that being drunk and threatening with knives Polonsky and his companions locked them up in the hold and then made them jump in the sea. The Russian citizens reject these accusations strongly and insist that an insignificant conflict took place between them and the sailors over the language barrier.

On April 3, after more than three months of arrest at the Cambodian prison Polonsky was released on recognizance not to leave the kingdom.

“According to available information of the detectives the law enforcement agencies in several countries launched an investigation against Polonsky, particularly over suspicions of money laundering,” the press centre of the Russian Interior Ministry told Itar-Tass earlier. However, the ministry did not note which countries they are speaking about.

On June 14, the investigation department of the Russian Interior Ministry charged Sergei Polonsky in absentia with fraud in the construction of the residential area Kutuzovskaya Milya in Moscow. More than 80 people were affected from his actions. The detectives believe that a company subordinate to Polonsky received about 5.7 billion roubles from the depositors, but froze up construction then, breaking the liabilities under the contracts. After that the top management of the company initiated a deliberate bankruptcy and shutdown of this company.

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