25.05 Interpol Rejects Russias Bid for Help in Browder Case
PARIS, May 25 (RIA Novosti) - The international police agency Interpol has deleted from its database all information in relation to UK-based investor William Browder, the organization said in a statement on Friday.
Browder, who heads the Hermitage Capital equity fund, is a former boss of deceased lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and a prominent campaigner for justice in his case. Magnitskys 2009 death in a Moscow jail triggered a furious diplomatic row between Moscow and Washington.
Russia put Browder on an international wanted list following Moscows Tverskoi Court arrest warrant issued last month. On Monday Moscow also requested Interpol to issue a blue notice for Browder, requiring all 190 member states to collect additional information about a persons identity, location or activities in relation to a crime, The Telegraph reported.
The issue was considered by the independent Commission for the Control of Interpols Files (CCF) on Friday.
The CCF studied a complaint brought before it by Browder and concluded that the case was of a predominantly political nature and recommended that all information be deleted from Interpols databases, Interpol said in a statement posted on its website.
Immediately upon receipt of the CCFs decision, the Interpol General Secretariat followed their recommendation, the statement reads.
The General Secretariat has informed all member countries about the decision.
Browder was charged in absentia in March with illegally purchasing shares in Russian energy giant Gazprom.
He was charged with buying Gazprom stock at a time when foreign ownership of the world's largest natural gas producer was restricted. The Interior Ministry said the charges were filed in absentia because no one had responded to the summons served two days before by diplomatic mail.
