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Berezovsky Faces New Charges
September 23, Russian authorities have filed fresh charges against exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky and issued an international warrant for his arrest.
"Following the appeal of the prosecutor's office for the Moscow region, the court has sanctioned Berezovsky's arrest," Moscow region Prosecutor Ivan Sydoruk told Russian media.
New charges of massive fraud and abuse of office had been filed against Berezovsky in connection with a purchase of a 14-hectare plot of state-owned land that was privatized in the 1990s.
Sydoruk also said an international warrant had been issued for Berezovsky over the new charges and described the magnate, who was granted asylum in Britain where he now lives, as "hiding from justice outside Russia."
Berezovsky quickly rejected the new charges. "Everything connected with the sale of this plot by the state to me as a private individual was an absolutely legal act," Berezovsky said in an interview with Echo Moscow radio station. He said regulations under which the land purchase was made were approved by former president Boris Yeltsin and argued that questioning that purchase now amounted to questioning the status and authority of the Russian president.
A detailed study of the issue by Kommersant correspondents is to be published at www.kommersant.com later on Thursday.
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Photo: Valery Levitin
