25 August 2003 14:01
Russian tycoon Gusinsky appears before Greek prosecutor
Former Russian media baron Vladimir Gusinsky on Monday appeared before a Greek prosecutor who will determine whether he should be extradited to Russia on suspicion of a multi-million dollar fraud.
Gusinsky was arrested at Athens airport last week on an international warrant on suspicion of a $250 million fraud. The prosecutor will examine whether Gusinsky can be extradited to Russia or if the matter should be referred to a council of appeals court judges for a ruling, court sources told Reuters. "It is not expected that this matter will end today. It will be a longer procedure", a court official told Reuters.
Gusinsky, 51, was one of a small group of Russian businessmen – known as the "oligarchs" – who made vast fortunes overnight in the privatisations of the 1990s, but he lost his business in 2000 after falling foul of the Kremlin.
His arrest came in the midst of a row between the Kremlin and another "oligarch", Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which has fuelled talk that President Vladimir Putin is reining in the super-rich elite ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections.
Gusinsky arrived on a flight from Tel Aviv last Thursday, carrying Russian and Israeli passports.
Russian oligarch to face fraud prosecutor
Russian tycoon to appear before Greek prosecutor
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