MOSCOW, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office plans to recoup the full amount of losses caused by late businessman Boris Berezovsky and confiscate his estates and assets, Prosecutor General’s Office spokeswoman Marina Gridneva told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
“The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office plans to regain the maximum amount of losses caused by [the late] Berezovsky and confiscate his illegally acquired property regardless of where it is located or to whom it is formally passed on or a false owner [of the said property],” Grineva said.
The official added that France’s Marseille court is examining a criminal case against French national Jean-Louis Bordes, accused of acquiring luxury real estate in order to launder money together with Berezovsky.
“The real estate objects have been bought on money, embezzled by Berezovsky and the members of a transnational criminal community established by him, in Russia,” Gridneva said.
“The decision on the possible confiscation of Chateau Clochet de la Garoup [Berezovsky’s property] for benefit of Russia and our domestic companies, aggrieved by the actions of Berezovsky and his accomplices, will be made by the results of the process,” the official told RIA Novosti.
Since 2008, Russian bailiffs have returned to creditors about $8 million of Berezovsky’s debts. After his death, five court decisions obliged Berezovsky to pay 3.3 billion rubles ($89 million) to national airline Aeroflot and the administration of Russia’s Samara Region.
Boris Berezovsky was a Russian oligarch, who has been living in the United Kingdom since 2000 in self-imposed exile, facing charges of fraud, failing to repatriate foreign currency revenues and abuse of office in Russia until his death in March 2013.
Police said he died from hanging and that there was no evidence of external involvement. Some British media claimed the businessman was on the verge of bankruptcy at the moment of his death, however, The Sunday Times reported Berezovky’s assets amounted to $800 million.
