MOSCOW, June 7 (RIA Novosti) – Police in Surrey, UK, said Friday that last year’s death of police informant Alexander Perepilichnyy was not suspicious.
Perepilichnyy, a 44-year-old wealthy Russian businessman who reportedly sought refuge in the UK after supplying evidence against an alleged crime syndicate in Russia, was found collapsed in his luxury private estate in Weybridge, Surrey, on November 10, 2012.
His death was initially treated as unexplained as two post mortem examinations – on November 14 and November 30 – failed to establish the cause of his death.
“Following a lengthy investigation, Surrey Police is satisfied that there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Alexander Perepilichnyy,” Surrey police said in a statement.
Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Ian Pollard said there was “no evidence to suggest that there was any third party involvement in Mr. Perepilichnyy's death.”
According to British media reports, Perepilichnyy had been linked to the Sergei Magnitsky affair.
The Guardian said he provided evidence allowing Swiss law enforcement officials to track the proceeds of a $230 million tax-embezzlement scheme against London-based Hermitage Capital that lawyer Sergei Magnitsky claimed he had uncovered. Magnitsky was detained in November 2008 and died less than a year later in a pretrial detention center.
Shortly after reports of Perepilichnyy’s death were made public, the Independent said citing unidentified sources that the businessman was a key witness against the “Klyuev Group,” which was implicated in a series of multimillion-dollar tax frauds and the death of Magnitsky.
