Businessman Igor Mekler, aged 50, was gunned down in Moscow on Thursday evening. Investigators are currently looking into his business partners, some of whom work in the field of radioactive materials storage.
Investigators are also researching Mekler's debts. According to the latest data, Mekler owed Sberbank, Fondservisbank, BKF-Bank, and several other creditors more than 1.5 billion rubles ($23 million). In the beginning of the year his businesses failed, and he declared bankruptcy this autumn. Investigators are now trying to determine whether any of his creditors could have been connected to his murder.
Mekler's business empire began in the mid-2000's when his father Vladimir gave him a share of the family business "Bulit-2000," a wholesaling firm. Later, Mekler would go on to own at least five different firms, though he owned only three at the time of his death. One of those, B.I. Logistics, is dedicated to the storage of nuclear and radioactive materials. It is located in Domodedovo in the Moscow region.
Mekler was shot outside a business center in Moscow's Khoroshevsky district. Investigators found 22 cartridge casings at the scene of the crime.
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