MOSCOW, December 14 (RIA Novosti) – A suspected Russian mafia boss detained in Spain on Wednesday is believed to have laundered up to 6 million euros ($8 million), the Diario de Mallorca newspaper reported Thursday.
According to Spanish investigators, Alexander Romanov, previously a high-ranking bank employee in Russia, moved to the Spanish island of Majorca to avoid prosecution in his home country.
Romanov strongly rejected all accusations, saying “all the money was earned legally.”
He was detained on Wednesday along with seven other people in what the Spanish police describe as a special operation against members of Russia’s Taganskaya mafia group that laundered money illegally obtained in Russia.
Media reports previously described Romanov as a “specialist in corporate raiding.”