Lawyer for businessman Katsyv says accusations against him absolute lies
MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax) - The businessman Denis Katsyv's lawyer, Natalya Veslnitskaya, said her client had nothing to do with the Magnitsky case or the misappropriation of budgeted funds.
"All accusations leveled against Denis Katsyv and reported by the Russian media, with reference to the federal attorney from the New York Southern District Court, are absolute lies. Neither Denis Katsyv nor any of the companies that belonged or belong to him have anything to do with the so-called Magnitsky affair or Hermitage Capital or theft from the Russian budget," the lawyer said in a statement, seen by Interfax.
"Neither Mr. Katsyv nor his companies have received any lawsuits or formal requests from U.S. attorney bodies," the statement said.
"Katsyv's lawyers are examining the media reports now," it said.
"There are compelling reasons to assume the that a PR campaign may have been ordered and carefully planned to put further political spin on the so-called Magnitsky case and to compromise Denis Katsyv personally," the lawyer said.
U.S. media reports said earlier on Wednesday that U.S. attorneys had petitioned courts to confiscate real state form firms suspected of participating in the money-laundering scheme that Hermitage Fund auditor Sergei Magnitsky uncovered.
The reports said the attorneys demanded the seizure of four luxury apartments and two trade premises in a prestigious quarter of Manhattan. One of the 11 respondents to figure in the suit is Denis Katsyv's Prevezon Holdings.
The media reports recall that Katsyv figured in a report by the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, which is investigating Magnitsky's death. According to the investigation, Katsyv used some of the funds misappropriated as the result of the Hermitage affair to buy expensive residential and commercial real estate in New York.
Magnitsky was charged with tax evasion and died in custody in 2009. His colleagues said he was arrested after he uncovered corrupt schemes involving some Russian officials.