France has frozen millions of euros stolen from the Russian budget

The authorities of France, during the investigation of the fraudulent scheme, allegedly opened by Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, froze bank accounts for millions of euros. In addition, according to news agencies, on suspicion of involvement in a fraudulent scheme, a woman is detained, having Russian and French citizenship.

Specific banks and names of account holders are not called.

The investigation in France began after a complaint filed by the Hermitage Capital Foundation. The fund allegedly provided evidence that cash in the amount of 230 million dollars withdrawn to France and Luxembourg is part of the proceeds of the fraud discovered by Magnitsky.

In the 2012 year, Hermitage Capital appealed to the prosecuting authorities of several countries with a request to freeze accounts in banks, through which, allegedly, sums were stolen from the Russian budget.

Unknown native of Russia

The case, according to Reuters, is a team of three judges headed by investigative judge Renault Van Ryumbek, who in the past investigated high-profile cases involving fraud and money laundering.

“This is an important development in our global campaign for justice for Sergei Magnitsky. The French authorities decided that the case would be overseen by an investigative judge who specializes in high-profile money laundering cases. This proves how seriously the French authorities take this matter,” Hermitage Capital said.

Additional comments in the fund were refused.

The interlocutors of news agencies claim that a French-speaking 58-year-old native of Russia has been detained in France and has already been questioned about the source of the money.

This woman, whose name is not called, owns a company in Saint-Tropez, engaged in the export of expensive French and Italian paints. In the period from 2008 to 2013 a year, her company received transfers to more than 16 million euros from the British Virgin Islands and Belize, the agency said.

Post mortem investigation

Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky headed the tax department at Firestone Duncan, which provided legal services, including to the Hermitage Capital fund. Magnitsky died in the Russian detention center “Matrosskaya Tishina” on November 16, 2009, without waiting for trial. He was accused of illegally returning allegedly overpaid income taxes in 2006. According to investigators, the lawyer, together with five other defendants, stole 5,4 billion rubles from the budget.

The Hermitage Capital fund argue that Sergei Magnitsky revealed the multi-billion dollar embezzlement scheme from the Russian budget. Shortly before his arrest, Magnitsky accused a group of police officers and tax inspectors that they stole 5,4 billion rubles from the state budget with the help of stolen documents from several Browder firms.

The death of a lawyer in the detention center led to the adoption of the “Magnitsky list” in 2012, where the US included people involved in the arrest and death of Magnitsky, and, according to the US, responsible for torture and human rights violations.

In Russia, in turn, they refused to resume the investigation into the case of the death of Sergei Magnitsky. Moreover, the Supreme Court recognized as lawful the initiation of a posthumous prosecution of a lawyer.