MOSCOW, June 11 (RAPSI) - The Supreme Court of Spain has ordered the extradition of Ilya Khaikin, former board chairman of Vneshagrobank and a director at Diskont Bank, who is wanted in Russia on suspicion of seizing land in Moscow Region, Kommersant newspaper wrote on Tuesday.
According to the newspaper, in 2001 Khaikin and his accomplices used companies they controlled to illegally acquire ownership rights for five land plots, totaling over 714 hectares (1763 acres) at the Leninsky Luch cooperative farm. At that time, the land plots were worth 35 million rubles (over $1.1 million). In 2003 the group attempted, but failed, to take over three other plots with a total area of 261 hectares (645 acres) at the same farm.
Khaikin, who had fled to the UK, was put on an international wanted list in August 2007. He was granted political asylum in the UK in 2008, and the British authorities refused to extradite him to Russia.
In October 2012, he was detained by a local Interpol branch in the resort town of Marbella, Spain. A month later the court released him on 500,000 euro bail, but several days ago the Supreme Court of Spain ruled Khaikin should be extradited to Russia.
The banker's lawyers have already filed an appeal against extradition, according to Kommersant sources.
If Khaikin is extradited to Russia, his case will set a precedent, Kommersant says. So far, suspects who have received political asylum status from the UK and are then arrested abroad have invariably been released.
