The Tallinn Circuit Court has upheld a lower court's earlier ruling that it is legally permissible to extradite to Russia Alexander Dmitriyev, former head of a Russian bank accused of defrauding the bank of millions of rubles.
Second-tier court in Estonia upholds Russian banker's extradition
6th June 2013, 16:40
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The Public Prosecutor's Office said the second-tier court's decision has entered into force and the Justice Ministry will wait till Friday for Dmitriyev's and his defense's written positions on extradition after which the minister can make the decision on surrendering the banker to the Russian authorities. However, the minister's decision too can be contested in all the three instances of court.
The lower-level Harju regional court decided in mid-March that the banker's extradition to Russia was legally permissible. It noted that the prosecutor's analysis of legal permissibility of Dmitriyev's extradition was extremely thorough. "With regard to defense's main argument - that Dmitriyev did not commit the crimes of which he has been accused - an Estonian court is not in a position to evaluate the evidence in this criminal case," it said.
Since the beginning of this year the banker's lawyers have been using various ways to put off the possible extradition. In January they requested and were granted postponement of the decision in order to ask Russian law enforcement authorities to provide additional materials. By the beginning of March the documents had been received and forwarded to the sides in the proceeding. On March 4 the Harju court informed the defense and the Public Prosecutor's Office that the extradition hearing would be held on the next day.
On March 5 Dmitriyev's lawyer announced that he needed more time to prepare his speech. The court agreed and gave him three days, scheduling the next sitting for March 8.
Estonia's central criminal police apprehended the former head of the Omsk branch of the Russian AK BARS Bank who is accused of embezzling more than 400 million rubles (EUR over 10 mln) in January.
The Russian authorities have declared Dmitriyev internationally wanted and charged him with large-scale fraud.
The ex-banker and former member of the council of the Siberian city of Omsk is alleged to have persuaded more than 100 people between 2007 and 2009 to sign mortgage contracts with the bank worth around 8.6 million euros then pocketing the money. He allegedly paid the phony borrowers 25-250 euros for it.
Dmitriyev also allegedly contracted around two million euros' worth of loans with the help of his associates in the Omsk council who nominally ran the businesses controlled by him. The borrowed funds were transferred to the businesses and used for personal purposes "including the acquisition of valuable property - cars, speedboats and aircraft," prosecutors in Russia have said.
According to information published earlier, Dmitriyev gave statements as witness in the case beginning from mid-2010. He stopped seeing investigators in December 2010, then went into hiding and was declared a fugitive.