Min: Cyprus’s refusal to coop in case vs Browder possibly illegal

MOSCOW, Oct 10 (PRIME) -- Moscow doubts the legality of a refusal by Cyprus to cooperate in a criminal case against William Browder, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ministry said it was denied audience at a date agreed earlier to conduct investigative activities under the case. “Meanwhile, the reason is said to be an application by William Browder to the court, who asked the Cypriot authorities to discontinue cooperation with Russia under his case because of a political bias.

“The decision by the Cypriot side to discontinue cooperation with the Prosecutor General’s office of the Russian Federation under a criminal case on Gazprom shares, where one of the defendants is William Browder surprised Moscow,” the ministry said. “We have serious doubts both in the legality of the decision, announced before a court ruling on an application by William Browder and in its independence by the Cypriots.”

Browder, a U.S. investor, was an employer of auditor Sergei Magnitsky, whose death in a Moscow jail caused a public outcry. A Russian court later sanctioned Browder’s arrest in absentia saying his acquisition of Gazprom shares was embezzlement.

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