Russian billionaire under investigation in France (updated)
23/11/2017 24:14
* Suleiman Kerimov detained at Nice airport
* Shares in family-owned gold miner slump
* Kremlin: we will protect his lawful interests
* Arrest connected to tax evasion case
(Recasts with formal investigation)
By Matthias Galante and Katya Golubkova
NICE/MOSCOW, Nov 22 (Reuters) - A French judge put Russian
businessman and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov, whose interests the
Kremlin has pledged to defend, under formal investigation on
Wednesday after his arrest linked to a French tax evasion case,
the prosecutor said.
The investigation, a step that often but not always leads to
a trial in the French legal system, was opened on suspicion of
aggravated laundering of tax fraud proceeds, a crime that
carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
The judge decided that Kerimov could be released from
detenion but had to turn in his passport and could not leave the
Alpes-Maritime county Nice is in. He was also ordered to post a
bail of five million euros ($5.9 million) and to check in with
police several times per week.
The Kremlin said earlier that it would spare no effort to
defend the rights of Kerimov, a 51-year-old billionaire who was
arrested Monday night in the French Riviera resort city of Nice.
Shares in Polyus PLZL.MM , Russia's biggest gold producer
which is controlled by Kerimov's family, fell on the news of his
detention.
"We will do everything in our power to protect his lawful
interests," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference
call with reporters. "Intensive work is now being undertaken by
the foreign ministry."
The prosecution requested that Kerimov be kept in custody
and a decision by a judge was expected soon. A second person was
also put under formal investigation.
A representative for Kerimov in the upper house of Russia's
parliament, where he sits as a lawmaker, declined to comment on
the case on Wednesday when contacted by Reuters. Polyus also
declined to comment.
Russia's state-run Rossiya 24 TV station, citing an unnamed
source, reported that Kerimov had denied any guilt. It was not
immediately clear if a lawyer had been hired to represent
Kerimov in France.
In the lower house of parliament, lawmaker Rizvan Kurbanov
asked the Russian foreign ministry to make representations on
Kerimov's behalf with the French authorities.
"We have still not received from the French authorities any
explanation of the reasons for the detention of our colleague,"
Kurbanov told parliament.
"All this testifies to an unprecedented demarche by the
French," he said, adding that he hoped the Russian foreign
ministry would issue a formal protest.
LUXURY RESIDENCES
Shares in Polyus fell more than 3 percent in early trade in
Moscow on Wednesday but then recovered some ground to close down
1.25 percent.
Originally from the mainly Muslim Russian region of
Dagestan, Kerimov built his lucrative natural resources business
through a combination of debt, an appetite for risk, and
political connections.
He owned top flight soccer club Anzhi Makhachkala until he
sold it in 2016.
Kerimov's fortune peaked at $17.5 billion in 2008 before
slumping to just $3 billion in 2009, according to Forbes
magazine, due to so-called margin calls on his assets triggered
by the 2007-2009 global financial crisis.
In March this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed
a decree giving Kerimov the state award "For Services to the
Fatherland, second class" for his contribution to Russian
parliamentary life.
French police arrested Kerimov at Nice airport on Monday
evening.
A French judicial source said the investigation centred on
the purchase of several luxury residences on the French Riviera
via shell companies, something that could have enabled Kerimov
to reduce taxes owed to the French state.
($1 = 0.8465 euros)
(Additional reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya, Dmitry Solovyov,
Olga Sichkar and Polina Devitt in MOSCOW; writing by Katya
Golubkova and Leigh Thomas; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Tom
Brown)
((ekaterina.golubkova@thomsonreuters.com; +7 495 775 1242;))
Keywords: RUSSIA PARLIAMENT/FRANCE POLICE