The Kremlin said on Wednesday it will spare no effort to defend the rights of Suleiman Kerimov, a Russian businessman and lawmaker who was arrested in the French Riviera resort of Nice in connection with a French tax evasion case, reports Reuters.
Shares in Polyus, Russia’s biggest gold producer which is controlled by Kerimov’s family, were down on the news of his detention.
The 51-year-old billionaire would be presented to a judge with a view to formally placing him under judicial investigation, a French public prosecutor said in Nice on Wednesday.
Under France’s legal system, being formally placed under investigation often, but not always, leads to a person being sent to trial.
“We will do everything in our power to protect his lawful interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters. “Intensive work is now being undertaken by the foreign ministry.”
A representative for Kerimov in the upper house of parliament, where he sits as a lawmaker, declined to comment on the case on Wednesday when contacted by Reuters. Polyus declined to comment.
Shares in Polyus, Russia’s biggest gold producer which is controlled by Kerimov’s family, were down on the news of his detention.
The 51-year-old billionaire would be presented to a judge with a view to formally placing him under judicial investigation, a French public prosecutor said in Nice on Wednesday.
Under France’s legal system, being formally placed under investigation often, but not always, leads to a person being sent to trial.
“We will do everything in our power to protect his lawful interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters. “Intensive work is now being undertaken by the foreign ministry.”