Borodin will not appeal money laundering charges
The former Kremlin finance chief, Pavel Borodin, says he will not appeal against charges of money laundering.
But lawyers representing the ex-Kremlin aide said their client would not pay a fine of SFr300,000 ($177,000), levied by a judge in Geneva earlier this month after an anti-corruption investigation lasting over two years.
Swiss authorities found Borodin guilty of receiving SFr38 million in kickbacks from two Swiss companies – Mabetex and Mercata – in exchange for lucrative contracts to renovate the Kremlin and the Russian presidential plane.
“Borodin won’t pay the fine because he doesn’t think he has committed any crime either at home or abroad,” said defence lawyer Eleonora Sergeyeva.
She added that her client was refusing to appeal because “we don’t recognise any decisions by the Swiss prosecutor”.
No proof, say lawyers
Borodin’s lawyers have long claimed there was no proof that any money he owned had been obtained through illegal activity.
The Borodin case first emerged publicly back in 1999, when evidence emerged of money laundering using Swiss bank accounts in 1994 and 1995.
The former director of the Kremlin property office was dismissed from his post by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in January 2000 and now holds the largely ceremonial post of secretary of the Russian-Belorussian Union.
Mabetex and Mercata – who have had accounts frozen by investigators reinstated – won contracts to refurbish the Kremlin and presidential plane worth SFr486 million.
swissinfo with agencies
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