Surrey jogger could run but he couldn’t hide
Running is a dangerous sport, especially when its practitioner runs from Russia.
Alexander Perepelichny, a Russian Mafioso turned grass to Swiss police, showed just how dangerous. He went for his customary jog near his mansion in Weybridge, then suddenly collapsed and died.
He fell victim, a fourth one, to an epidemic of sudden cardiac arrest afflicting those who testify against Russian crime syndicates in what is usually referred to as the Magnitsky case.
By way of background information, what our papers call ‘crime syndicate’ is the timid shorthand for Putin’s government and him personally. All big business in Russia is transacted by this crime group either directly or by proxy, through smaller Mafias erroneously described as companies in the press. Hence my description of Perepelichny as a Mafioso – if he was Russian and rich, then he was either a world-famous musician or a criminal, and he never performed at the South Bank.
Perepelichny is actually known to have belonged to the deadly Klyuev gang, which he crossed and against which he agreed to testify in the Swiss investigation of money laundering. But, as far as information goes, this knowledge is merely the icing on the cake.
For no one can make a large fortune in Russia without either belonging to the Putin Mafia or at least staying on its good side, typically by paying it off in money or in kind. I’m sure the distinction would be important in an independent court, but from any ethical standpoint it’s irrelevant. We can safely assume that any extremely rich Russian is a criminal, be that as an active perpetrator or abettor.
Bill Browder (whose grandfather co-founded Communist Party USA) was allowed to run his Hermitage hedge fund and make his billions in Russia for as long as he was Putin’s friend. When the friendship went sour, and nothing is more fickle than a tyrant’s affection, he was kicked out of the country and his company was robbed of £140 million. Sergei Magnistky, a Hermitage lawyer, chose to stay behind and expose the crime, whose proceeds were mostly laundered through Swiss banks.
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Mystery death of Russian businessman now examined by Major Crimes Unit
An investigation into the sudden death of a Russian supergrass in Surrey is now being reviewed by specialist detectives amid mounting concern that he could have been murdered.
Alexander Perepilichnyy’s, 44, who moved to Britain three years ago after falling out with a Moscow crime syndicate, was found dead outside his mansion on an exclusive private estate near Weybridge last month.
His death has so far been described as “unexplained” and Surrey police initially stated that it was not being treated as suspicious.
But after it emerged that Mr Perepilichnyy’s was co-operating with the Swiss authorities in a major corruption investigation linked to a string of other deaths, police chiefs ordered that the case be passed to force’s Major Crimes Unit.
Police sources said the unit, which investigates complex murder cases, would be now taking a fresh look at the circumstances of Mr Perepilichnyy’s death.
Detectives will speak to his friends and business associates in a renewed effort to establish how a 44-year-old man, who was apparently in good health, came to suddenly collapse and die.
One theory being explored is that he could have been poisoned in a similar fashion to Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent who died in London in 2006 after being contaminated with radioactive Polonium 210.
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Cyprus bail-out doubts over Russian money laundering
Politicians across Europe are urging their governments to demand a crackdown on alleged Russian money-laundering in Cyprus as a condition of any bail-out for the troubled eurozone member.
Cyprus is close to securing a €17bn (£14bn) rescue package but MPs in the UK, Finland and the Netherlands want tough questions to be asked of the country’s banks before a deal is signed and any funds are released. German politicians are believed to be looking at making similar demands.
The moves follow revelations that the Cypriot authorities refused to investigate claims that criminals linked to a $230m (£145m) alleged Russian tax fraud laundered $30m through the country’s banks. The case has been linked to a number of suspicious deaths, including that of Alexander Perepelichny, the 44-year-old whistleblower living in Surrey who died while out jogging last month.
The supposed criminal conspiracy involving police and tax officials was uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer working for UK-based hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management, who died in 2009 after a year in pre-trial detention on unproven charges of tax evasion. The US has since banned entry to 60 Russians linked to the fraud and death.
In July, Hermitage wrote to Cyprus’s attorney-general, Petros Clerides with evidence that banks had received stolen money. Mr Clerides said he could not investigate without a request from the Russian authorities, even though similar allegations are being looked at by Switzerland, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Estonia.
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Magnitsky, the Accidental Symbol of Global Injustice
Magnitsky’s life reveals a man who was in many ways ordinary and felt compelled to fight a state machine he had trusted his whole career.
When a childhood friend said he was thinking of not returning to Russia after a concert tour abroad in 2000, Sergei Magnitsky gave him a copy of “Brat 2,” a popular movie released earlier that year, in the hope of dissuading him from emigrating.
“Brat 2” tells the story of a justice-seeking rebel, played by the actor Sergei Bodrov Jr., who goes to the United States to rescue his brother from gangsters. He quickly becomes disillusioned with the country, where he thinks people “seek truth in money” and, after helping his brother, returns home to Russia.
Described as “a very Russian man” by friends, Magnitsky also was not impressed by London’s narrow streets when there on business, and he enjoyed traveling around Russia. He once made a trip to Odessa, where he was born.
“The word ‘patriot’ might sound vulgar, but he loved Russia,” said Tatyana Rudenko, Magnitsky’s aunt, who was close to her nephew throughout his life.
Magnitsky, a senior auditor and tax attorney for the Moscow-based law firm Firestone Duncan, died on Nov. 16, 2009, in a Moscow prison, where, according to a Kremlin human rights council investigation, he was badly beaten by guards shortly before he died.
A criminal investigation was carried out, but no senior prison or police officials have been prosecuted in connection with his death.
On Nov. 16 of this year, the third anniversary of Magnitsky’s death, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which seeks to punish Russian officials implicated in his death as well as other Russian officials linked to human rights abuses.
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MI5 alert over death of Russian supergrass exile
MI5 is monitoring the mysterious death of a Russian supergrass after a second post-mortem examination on his body failed to rule out murder.
Alexander Perepilichnyy, a wealthy businessman who sought sanctuary in Britain three years ago after falling out with a crime syndicate and testifying against it, was found dead outside his luxury home on a private estate in Surrey.
Ministers are awaiting the results of further toxicology tests on the body for radioactive poisons including polonium 210. The same poison was used to murder Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB spy who died in London six years ago.
Perepilichnyy, who was 44 and apparently in good health, was co-operating with the Swiss authorities, who have been investigating allegations of money-laundering and a network of corrupt Russian officials.
The network is said to be led by Dmitry Klyuev, a convicted Russian criminal, who has been named by American and British politicians as the head of the so-called Klyuev crime group.
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Police ‘ignored’ fears that Russian mob killed witness who fled to Britain
Police investigating the death of a whistleblower found dead in Surrey were unwilling to believe that the Russian mafia may have been involved and “brushed off” attempts to explain that he had been at risk from an international organised crime syndicate, it has been claimed.
Since the body of Alexander Perepilichnyy was found outside his home three weeks ago, it has emerged that the 44-year-old had been the key co-operating witness in a Swiss investigation of a multimillion-pound tax fraud in Russia, linked to individuals suspected of involvement in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The claim that police were slow to realise the possible implications of the death of Perepilichnyy was made by businessman Bill Browder, who had hired Magnitsky to investigate a massive tax fraud perpetrated on his company, Hermitage Capital Management. He was aware that Perepilichnyy was assisting money-laundering investigations into the same corrupt Russian officials.
Upon hearing of Perepilichnyy’s death, which remains unexplained, Browder contacted Surrey police, explaining why it was crucial that they conducted a sophisticated autopsy. Six years ago, former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko was fatally poisoned with the radioactive element polonium-210 in London, after meeting two Russians at a central London hotel.
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Murder or mishap? The mysterious death of Russian businessman Alexander Perepelichny
In any other circumstances, it might not have raised suspicion. But when Alexander Perepelichny, a reclusive Russian businessman, collapsed and died after jogging near his luxury Surrey home three weeks ago, police soon realised that they could not jump to conclusions.
Was it, as it seeemed, just a tragically early heart attack or stroke, brought on by a vigorous bout of exercise? Or, given his role as a witness to one of Russia’s most politically sensitive corruption scandal, was it a case of yet another awkward Russian being silenced on British soil?
Last week, 1,500 miles away inside Room 33 of the Tverskoy district court in northern Moscow, Natalya Magnitskaya was pondering that very question. Not, though, just in relation to Mr Perepelichny, but over her own son Sergei, who died a lingering, agonising death three years ago in a Moscow jail cell.
What links the two men’s deaths is that they both attempted to lift the lid on the so-called Hermitage Capital scandal, in which Russian tax officials defrauded a British-based investment company of some £140 million back in 2007.
The Hermitage case was just one of many examples of state gangsterism in Russia in recent times, with one important difference: namely, that the fraud’s victims fought back.
Mr Magnitsky, a lawyer for Hermitage, compiled a detailed dossier identifying the alleged culprits, only to be thrown in jail himself, where he died through a combination of brutal beatings and deliberate neglect of his medical needs.
And there the affair might have ended, were it not for Hermitage continuing the fight on his behalf – aided, it now seems, by Mr Perepelichny, a former business associate of some of the accused, who recently turned “supergrass” on Hermitage’s behalf.
Mr Perepelichny, who fled Moscow three years earlier after falling out with a crime syndicate, passed documents to prosecutors in Switzerland, corroborating how officials first fingered by Magnitsky transferred huge tranches of cash to Credit Suisse accounts. It would mean there are plenty of people who might wish him ill.
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Have Russia’s poison assassins struck in Surrey?
Surrounded by high walls, with closed circuit TV cameras monitoring all entrances and guards constantly on patrol, the electronically gated enclave of St George’s Hill in Surrey has long attracted the rich and famous.
Dubbed Britain’s Beverly Hills, the exclusive area has been home to stars such as Sir Cliff Richard, Kate Winslet and Ringo Starr, as well as footballers including Frank Lampard and the motor-racing driver Jenson Button.
It is billed as the perfect spot for ‘high achievers looking for a secure and private location’ and the smallest properties cost £6 million on the 964-acre estate — which has a golf course, tennis courts, swimming pool, spa and restaurant.
But such exclusive delights are no longer of interest to one resident. Alexander Perepilichny, 44, who rented a luxury property on the estate for £12,500 a month, was found dead three weeks ago in the strangest of circumstances outside his home inside this gated community.
A fit, energetic businessman with no history of medical problems, he had, it seems, simply dropped dead in the one-acre grounds of his seven-bedroom home. Yet exactly how he died remains shrouded in mystery.
His body was discovered soon after 5pm on a Saturday by a member of his staff. He had last been seen out jogging that morning. He was still in his running gear when he was found.
‘The death is being treated as unexplained,’ a police spokesman said. ‘A post-mortem examination was carried out, which was inconclusive. Further tests are being carried out.’
And there is nothing routine about these further tests — forensic experts are searching for traces of poison. Amid growing fears among associates that this wealthy individual was the victim of a sophisticated professional assassin, forensic experts are working to identify any lethal substance in the dead man’s organs or bloodstream.
The extra tests were ordered — following a routine autopsy — after Surrey police were informed that the dead man had fled from Russia to Britain three years ago and had turned supergrass against members of a feared Russian crime syndicate.
Yesterday, it emerged that Perepilichny had been warned via a Russian police official that his name was on a hit list discovered in the possession of a known Chechen hitman in Russia, who had details of his former addresses.
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Tory blushes deepen over activities of Conservative Friends of Russia
It seemed like the perfect fact-finding mission. Ten days in Moscow and St Petersburg, trips to the state ballet (Figaro and Don Quixote), and meetings with top Russian politicians. There was a visit to the world-famous Hermitage Museum. Not to mention gala dinners and an afternoon sightseeing at the Kremlin.
At least four activists from the Conservative Friends of Russia group took part in the trip in September. A photo shows the Tories posing on a red carpet inside the Duma, Russia’s state parliament. The official itinerary describes them, flatteringly, as “young political leaders from Great Britain”. Best of all, a Russian federal cultural agency, Rossotrudnichestvo, picked up the bill for travel, hotel and tickets.
Three months later, the group is in disarray, amid questions about its behind-the-scenes links to the Russian embassy in London and its alleged uncritical cheerleading for Vladimir Putin. Last week, its honorary president, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, resigned. Rifkind said he had been unhappy for some time about the group’s behaviour and “political direction”.
The “final straw” came when Conservative Friends of Russia launched a scurrilous attack on the Labour MP Chris Bryant, and posted a photo of Bryant in his Y-fronts, Rifkind said. More resignations followed. Since the weekend, two more Tory MPs have quit, Robert Buckland and deputy speaker Nigel Evans.
Most humiliating of all, Prince Michael of Kent – a Russian-speaker who looks uncannily like Russia’s last tsar – pulled out of the group’s “old” new year dinner at the SamarQuand restaurant.
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To learn more about what happened to Sergei Magnitsky please read below
- Sergei Magnitsky
- Why was Sergei Magnitsky arrested?
- Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and death in prison
- President’s investigation sabotaged and going nowhere
- The corrupt officers attempt to arrest 8 lawyers
- Past crimes committed by the same corrupt officers
- Petitions requesting a real investigation into Magnitsky's death
- Worldwide reaction, calls to punish those responsible for corruption and murder
- Complaints against Lt.Col. Kuznetsov
- Complaints against Major Karpov
- Cover up
- Press about Magnitsky
- Bloggers about Magnitsky
- Corrupt officers:
- Sign petition
- Citizen investigator
- Join Justice for Magnitsky group on Facebook
- Contact us
- Sergei Magnitsky
