Russian prosecutors expect businessman Polonsky's extradition from Cambodia in near future
MOSCOW. Nov 13 (Interfax) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office expects a Cambodian court to authorize Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky's extradition in the near future, Denis Grunis, the chief of the Prosecutor General's Office department of international cooperation on special cases, told Interfax on Wednesday.
"Based on a Russian request, a prosecutor at the Phnom Penh Court of Appeals issued an order on November 8 to search for Polonsky and arrest him for extradition purposes, which was executed. At the present time, the prosecution agency passed the extradition case to Cambodian judicial bodies for consideration, and their decision is expected in the near future," Grunis said.
"The Cambodian prosecution agencies have already analyzed the materials provided by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and found them sufficient for launching an extradition procedure in line with this state's law," he said.
The request that the Russian authorities sent to Cambodia "contains the justification of Polonsky's criminal prosecution and the essential guarantees of his rights after his extradition to Russia," he said.
Grunis pointed out that the Russian Prosecutor General's Office in early October "drew up a request for Russian citizen Sergei Polonsky's extradition for holding him criminally liable and forwarded it to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Kingdom of Cambodia, in line with international law and criminal procedure law and based on materials provided by the investigation."
A Russian deputy prosecutor general's demand for Polonsky's extradition is "based on the provisions of a multilateral international treaty, the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, which was ratified by both Russia and Cambodia."
The signatories to the Convention view it as a legal foundation for extraditing individuals accused of committing crimes while being part of a group on previous concert, Grunis said.
The Russian Interior Ministry's investigative department presented an indictment against Polonsky in absentia on June 14 in a case dealing with fraud during the construction of a residential complex in Moscow. Polonsky is suspected of embezzling over 5.7 billion rubles from investors of the Kutuzov Mile residential complex, and over 80 individuals have been recognized as victims of the fraud scheme.
Moscow's Tverskoi Court later sanctioned Polonsky's arrest in absentia, and he was subsequently declared internationally wanted.