Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Whitehall fears ‘another Litvinenko’ as police probe businessman’s death

The Times

Ministers were warned six months ago about the activities of Russian officials linked to a “whistleblower” businessman who was mysteriously found dead outside his Surrey mansion.

Police are investigating after the body of Alexander Perepilichny was discovered in the grounds of his home in Weybridge. Mr Perepilichny, 44, had passed vital documents to campaigners fighting to expose a massive tax fraud in Russia that had led to the death of an anti-corruption lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky.

The businessman, who is said to have sought refuge in Britain three years ago after falling out with a crime syndicate, had been helping Swiss prosecutors to investigate a money-laundering scheme involving Russian government tax officials.

He is the fourth person linked to the Magnitsky case to have died in unexplained circumstances. Surrey Police said that a post-mortem examination had been “inconclusive” and that further tests were being carried out before an inquest.

Mr Magnitsky, 37, died in agony in Matrosskaya Tishina prison in Moscow in November 2009 after being held for a year in pre-trial detention and denied medical treatment for serious illnesses. He repeatedly complained that he was tortured in prison to try to force him to withdraw testimony against a group of Interior Ministry police who he had accused of stealing $230 million from businesses owned by Hermitage Capital, a British investment company.