Moscow police have arrested businessman Ibragim Suleimanov on suspicion of involvement in two contract killings over two decades ago, state media reported Friday.
Suleimanov is suspected of involvement in the murder of Vnukovo Airlines trade union leader Gennady Borisov in January 1999 and that of former government bankruptcy body chief Georgy Tal in April 2004, the Kommersant business daily reported.
Suleimanov was arrested after the alleged gunman in the murders, identified as the head of a Dagestani organized crime group named Abakar Darbishev, reportedly testified against him.
Darbishev reportedly died from heart failure while in police custody after his testimony.
Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ordered Suleimanov and another defendant, Mukhhamed Darbishev, to be placed in pre-trial detention until Dec. 2, TASS reported later Friday.
Suleimanov was in 2007 sentenced to 10.5 years on fraud and money laundering charges and was released in 2015 on parole.
The state-run TASS news agency and pro-Kremlin daily Izvestia describe him as a billionaire, but no independent estimates of Suleimanov’s net worth have been made public.
Investigative news outlets named Suleimanov and his son Rasul as the beneficiaries of Sirena-Travel, a major IT company that develops booking and digital solutions for the aviation sector, including the Leonardo reservation system used in 80% of ticket sales in Russia.
Suleimanov was previously reported to have business ties to billionaire senator Suleiman Kerimov and is the son-in-law of Platon Lebedev, the onetime business partner of exiled former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
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