The same police officer whose investigation led to the death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in November is seeking the arrest of a Hermitage partner in the case, the London-based investment fund said Monday.
The fund's lawyers have received a copy of a request by Interior Ministry Major Oleg Silchenko for a Moscow court to arrest Ivan Cherkesov, a 42-year-old Russian national based in London, in absentia, Hermitage said in a statement.
Cherkesov is wanted on suspicion of underpaying dividend-withholding taxes by a Hermitage-related firm that he used to run, an accusation that Hermitage denied.
Magnitsky, 37, died in a detention center after officials denied him medical treatment for illnesses that he developed while waiting 12 months for his trial to start, prompting President Dmitry Medvedev to order amendments intended to sharply reduce the percentage of people kept in pretrial detention. ?
Police began investigating Magnitsky after he accused Interior Ministry officers of embezzling government funds worth $230 million.
"The officers responsible for Magnitsky's death are now trying to find another hostage," Hermitage said in the statement.
The Interior Ministry had no immediate comment on the case.