Alexander Dmitriyev, the former head of a Russian bank wanted by the Russian authorities for embezzlement, has to remain behind bars in Estonia as the Supreme Court rejected his defense's appeal.
Russian banker to remain in custody in Estonia
10th May 2013, 16:13
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Dmitriyev's lawyer lodged an appeal against the application of provisional custody for extradition purposes but the top court dismissed it on Wednesday.
The lower-level Harju regional court decided in mid-March that the banker's extradition to Russia was legally permissible.
The court 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.
The ruling has not stepped into force yet as the parties to the proceeding have the right to contest it in the second-tier Tallinn Circuit Court. The circuit court's ruling in turn can be appealed with the Supreme Court.
Once the ruling on the permissibility of extradition takes effect the final decision on surrendering the banker to the Russian authorities rests with the justice minister.
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 more than 350 million rubles or around 8.6 million euros then pocketing the money. He allegedly paid the phony borrowers 1,000 to 10,000 rubles (EUR 25-250) for it.
Dmitriyev also allegedly contracted around 80 million rubles' (EUR 2 mln) 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.
Information published earlier shows that 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.