Russia clears Borodin of wrongdoing

Russia's prosecutor general says he has found no evidence to support Swiss allegations that a former Kremlin official, Pavel Borodin, took bribes from Swiss companies in return for lucrative contracts to renovate the Kremlin.

Borodin, the former Kremlin property chief under Boris Yeltsin, is currently in custody in New York, awaiting extradition to Switzerland on suspicion of money laundering.

A spokesman for the Russian prosecutor’s office, Leonid Troshin, said on Wednesday that checks carried out by Russia at the request of Switzerland had not revealed any financial irregularities relating to Borodin’s time in office.

“Not one breach of the rules of completing tenders, not one case of [falsely] raising estimates or the amount of work done, no facts which would give the basis for starting a criminal case against Borodin under either Russian or US law, were revealed through these checks,” he said.

Russian prosecutors closed their investigation into the case last year, citing lack of evidence.

Geneva prosecutors allege that Borodin accepted bribes from two Swiss companies – Mabetex and Mercata – in exchange for building contracts, and laundered the money through Switzerland.

Borodin denies any wrongdoing.

swissinfo with agencies