Report: Lawmaker Kerimov detained in France in tax evasion case

NICE, France/MOSCOW (PRIME) -- Russian businessman and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov was arrested by French police at Nice airport on Monday evening in connection with a tax evasion case, an official at the French prosecutor’s office told Reuters late on Tuesday.

Kerimov is ranked by Forbes magazine as Russia’s 21st wealthiest businessman, with a net worth of $6.3 billion. His family controls Russia’s largest gold producer Polyus.

“He is being held for questioning in a case related to laundering of tax fraud proceeds,” the official said.

An informed source told PRIME that Kerimov denied any charges of the French authorities. “He was detained last night at an airport over some kind of charges. He denied the charges. A lawyer is working with him,” the source said, adding a court meeting will be held in the next couple of days that will choose the pre-trial restriction.

A Russian Foreign Ministry representative told PRIME that Russia has notified the French Foreign Ministry that Kerimov is a member of the parliament’s upper house Federation Council, has diplomatic immunity and a diplomatic passport, and cannot be detained on the territory of another country.

“Russia is in a contact with corresponding French authorities over the detention of Suleiman Kerimov in France,” the representative said.

“We are making every possible step in a diplomatic and a consulate line, both in Paris and in Moscow, to free the detained person as soon as possible. We are looking into the circumstances of the incident, and we have nothing to say so far,” Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Federation Council’s international affairs committee, told PRIME.

Reuters reported quoting a source as saying that the investigation centers on the purchase of several luxury residences on the French Riviera via shell companies, something that would have enabled Kerimov to reduce taxes owed to the French state.

The source added Kerimov would be held in custody for at least another 24 hours, according to Reuters.

“Kerimov does have a diplomatic passport, but that does not protect him from prosecution,” the French official said.

The French foreign ministry could not immediately confirm it had been in contact with Moscow, Reuters reported.

A French diplomatic source said immunity was given by governments to people on diplomatic lists or if they had been mandated with a specific mission in the country.

A Federation Council source told PRIME that Kerimov was in France on a private trip, not on an official trip.

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