Russian special investigator to receive Swiss files in Aeroflot probe
The Russian special investigator, Nikolai Volkov, is to travel to Switzerland this week to receive vast amounts of documents from the Swiss legal authorities relating to money laundering allegations against the Russian airline, Aeroflot.
More than 80 boxes of files relating to bank accounts held by Aeroflot’s Lausanne-based company, Andava, and the financial group, Forus, are to be handed over to Volkov, according to the Russian newsagency, Interfax.
The Russian legal authorities had started an investigation against Aeroflot and the billionaire businessman, Boris Berezovsky, in January 1999, for allegedly siphoning off $600 million from foreign transaction via Andava and Forus.
Moscow issued an arrest warrant for Berezovsky in April 1999 but since then the Russian police has put its investigations into his dealings on hold.
The entrepreneur has an empire consisting of media groups, a bank, an oil company, Aeroflot and several foreign companies. He was a close friend and ally of the former Russian president, Boris Yeltsin.
However, if the new files given to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Moscow yield new evidence in the case, legal experts believe Berezovsky could once again come under close scrutiny.
swissinfo with agencies.
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