Polonsky will likely be extradited from Israel to Russia - sources
MOSCOW/TEL AVIV. Aug 16 (Interfax) - Businessman Sergei Polonsky, who was arrested by court in absentia on fraud charges, will most likely be extradited from Israel if the Russian authorities request his extradition, sources with knowledge on the situation told Interfax.
"The results of the contacts between Russian and Israeli law enforcement officials indicate Israel's intention to grant the request for Sergei Polonsky's extradition if such a request is made by the Russian authorities," a source told Interfax on Friday.
The Israeli law enforcement agencies have received information from unofficial sources that Polonsky, a Russian businessman and former founder and head of the company Mirax Group, has been charged with fraud, the source said.
"The thing is that Sergei Polonsky is in the process of being issued a passport and citizenship in Israel, and this procedure involves inquiries about possible criminal prosecution in his homeland," the source said.
Another source said Israeli officials have made it clear to their Russian colleagues in unofficial contacts that they are ready to hand the runaway businessman over to Russia.
The Moscow Tverskoi Court earlier ruled to arrest Polonsky in absentia, granting an appropriate request from the Interior Ministry. Interior Ministry investigator Oleg Silchenko said in court that Polonsky is now in Israel and is avoiding a meeting with investigators.
Silchenko also said that law enforcement agencies in other countries were also looking into Polonsky's activities.
"We have received letters from Interpol. Switzerland is conducting a money laundering inquiry against Polonsky," Silchenko said, asking the court to issue an arrest warrant for the businessman in absentia.
The state prosecutor supported the arguments presented by the investigator, calling them "legitimate and well-founded."
Polonsky's defense lawyer Diana Tatosova, for her part, asked the court to postpone its session because her client had a citizenship interview appointment with the Israeli Interior Ministry on Tuesday.
"His attendance [at the interview with the Israeli Interior Ministry] is obligatory. He will not be able to be present here [at the Russian court] today," Tatosova said.
The court declined the lawyer's petition and agreed to issue an arrest warrant for Polonsky in absentia.
According to the law, Polonsky will be taken into custody if he returns to Russia.
The press service of the Russian Interior Ministry's Investigative Department said earlier that investigators sought Polonsky's arrest in absentia as part of a continuing fraud inquiry opened against him.
The Interpol National Central Bureau of the Russian Interior Ministry has received information from Israeli law enforcement authorities that Polonsky was living in Israel, which he entered on a tourist visa expiring on September 27, 2013.
A criminal inquiry on counts of large-scale fraud was opened in Russia in the autumn of 2012 against unidentified employees of the Mirax Group company founded by Polonsky.
Investigators believe that "in 2007-2008 they began concluding preliminary sale/purchase agreements for apartments in the Kutuzovskaya Milya residential complex under construction, which they knew were not in line with the project's approved documents."