Workers mount letters for the sign of Vneshtorgbank on a building.
Photo: Grigoriy Sobchenko
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Russia Seeks the Extradition of a Ukrainian Businessman
Russian prosecutors have requested Ukraine to extradite the director general of Ukragropromkhimholding who was arrested in Kiev last Friday. Russia seeks him for misappropriating $100 million that the Ukrainian holding received as a loan from Russia’s Vneshtorgbank.
Alexander Bessonov, director general of Ukragrokhimpromholding, secured a $100 million loan at Vneshtorgbank for the production of tank-cars for liquid ammonia in April 2004, a source of Kommersant at the Ukrainian prosecutors said. Before the end of 2004, Ukragrokhimpromholding controlled Rivneazot, one of the larges chemical plants in Ukraine, accounting for 12 percent of all nitrogen fertilizers in the country. However, the company has not made any active operations on the market since 2004.
A member of Vneshtorgbank’s board became suspicious of the loan taker and launched a bank probe. This summer, Russian prosecutors opened a criminal case against Bessonov on charges of fraud. Moscow’s Tverskoy Court issued an arrest warrant for the Ukrainian company’s executive and put him on an international wanted listed.
The businessman was detained in Kiev last week. Court is to decide today where he will remain in custody. Extradition is likely to begin afterwards.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko reported the arrest of Alexander Bessonov on Saturday. He pledged adherence to international treaties but said that the extraction process will would begin before he meets his Russian counterpart, Rashid Nugraliev. Minister Lutsenko said he would also ask Nugraliev to speed up the extradition of people wanted by Ukraine for high-profile crimes.
Ukraine’s Interior Minister was apparently referring to members of the Nemsadze gang, Odessa’s former mayor Ruslan Bodelan and former head of Kiev’s regional administration Anatoly Zasukha who are hiding in Russia.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 26, 2006
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