Borodin bond to be repaid to Russia
Swiss authorities say they will repay Russia most of a SFr5 million bail bond levied against the former Kremlin adviser, Pavel Borodin.
Borodin, who was found guilty last month of corruption, was fined SFr300,000 by a judge in Geneva ending two years of legal proceedings.
He was found guilty of receiving SFr38 million in kickbacks from Swiss companies in exchange for lucrative contracts to renovate the Kremlin and the Russian presidential plane.
Geneva prosecutor Bernard Bertossa said Switzerland would first deduct Borodin’s fine from the bond money. He added that “generous benefactors” had agreed to make up the shortfall and ensure Russia received the full SFr5 million bond.
Corruption case
Bertossa revealed that one of the benefactors was Viktor Stolpovskikh, head of the Ticino-based firm, Mercata – one of the two companies at the centre of the corruption case.
Dominique Poncet, a lawyer for Borodin, said all necessary steps had been taken to expedite the bond’s return. Borodin had previously insisted he would not pay the fine.
The scandal first erupted in 1999 amid revelations that money had been laundered through Swiss bank accounts in 1994 and 1995.
Borodin was arrested on a Swiss warrant in early 2001 while travelling in the United States. He was released on bail in April last year six days after being extradited from the US.
Borodin was dismissed as director of the Kremlin property office by Russian president Vladimir Putin in January 2000 and now holds the largely ceremonial post of secretary of the Russian-Belorussian Union.
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