Fugitive Russian real estate tycoon Sergei Polonsky, wanted in Russia on embezzlement charges, has been put on an international wanted list, the Interior Ministry said.
Polonsky, the former head of the Mirax Group construction firm, was charged in absentia in August with involvement in embezzling over 5.7 billion rubles ($175 million) from an upscale residential project in Moscow. An arrest warrant was also issued for him in absentia.
According to the Interior Ministry more than 80 participants in the project lost money as a direct cause of Polonsky's actions.
Polonsky reportedly instructed his lawyers to draft compensation deals amounting to $12 million for those individuals who purportedly lost money in the project. "All the interest holders will get their apartments. In the meantime, I will compensate them for their losses," Polonsky told RIA Novosti on Oct. 4.
Polonsky said earlier that he was considering returning to Moscow to clear his name.
The tycoon was also at the center of a scandal involving ex-KGB officer and businessman Alexander Lebedev, who faced charges in Moscow after he punched Polonsky during a television talk show in 2011.
Lebedev denied his guilt, and said he would appeal the sentence of 150 hours of community service, the Russian legal news agency RAPSI reported in July.
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