Askerova, a restaurant owner, is among seven suspects in custody for their alleged involvement in the murder of Andrei Kozlov, a Central Bank money-laundering regulator, who was gunned down in September 2006 in an apparent contract killing.
Nikolai Klen, said Askerova, believed to be a link between the paymaster in the September 13 Kozlov shooting, should be released as her health had deteriorated in custody.
She was arrested after Kozlov and his driver were gunned down as they left a sports stadium in northeast Moscow. The driver died at the scene, the banker underwent emergency surgery but died several hours later.
Askerova is said to have identified a commercial banker, Alexei Frenkel, as the mastermind behind Kozlov's assassination, who led a crusade against money laundering and other criminal practices in the banking sector.
On August 10, the Basmanny Court of Moscow extended her custody until November 13. It is believed if released, she could flee the country or resort to pressurizing witnesses.
In two letters that followed his arrest, Frenkel accused the CBR of accepting bribes for entering banks into the deposit insurance system. He said the bank discriminated between financial institutions automatically eligible for the system, while others had to pay huge kickbacks to be enrolled. The bribes, he wrote, varied from $150,000 to $5 million, according to the size of the bank.
In his letters, Frenkel did not name officials involved in the illegal transactions and kickbacks, but gave details of the alleged schemes.
