The French authorities have given the Russian side the former deputy chairman of the Moscow Region Government, Aleksey Kuznetsov, who is accused of financial fraud. This was reported in the press service of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation.
“The competent authorities of the French Republic satisfied the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation to extradite the former First Deputy Prime Minister of the Moscow Region - Finance Minister of the Moscow Region Alexei Viktorovich Kuznetsov for criminal liability under Part 4 of Art. 159, part 4 of Art. 160 and Part 3 of Art. 174.1 of the Criminal Code ", - stated in a press release.
Kuznetsov, who held the post of Minister of Finance of the Moscow Region in 2000–2008 and First Deputy Prime Minister of the Moscow Region in 2004–2008, is accused of ten episodes of fraud, three cases of embezzlement and nine episodes of legalizing property acquired as a result of the crimes committed.
According to the investigation, Kuznetsov and his accomplices caused damage to the Moscow Region Government, enterprises of the housing and utilities sector of the region and Mosobltransinvest company in the amount of over 14 billion rubles.
Recall that at the end of July 2008, Kuznetsov wrote a letter of resignation from the government of the Moscow Region “of their own will” and left for the United States, whose former wife Jeanne Bullock, who is also involved in the criminal scheme, is a citizen. Already in August, the Investigation Committee opened a criminal case against Kuznetsov and his accomplices, including Bullock and the deputy head of the regional Ministry of Finance Vladimir Nosov.
Moreover, if Nosov, the ex-head of OJSC “Moscow Regional Trust Company” Vladislav Telepnev and economist of LLC “NES-Finance” Elena Kuznetsova were sentenced in 2014 to terms from 7 to 14 years, for a long time Kuznetsov and Bullock were on the international wanted list.
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The French authorities detained Kuznetsov in the south of the country in July 2013, and during his arrest several fake passports were confiscated from him. Since December of the same year, the appellate courts of Aix-en-Provence and Lyon considered the case of his extradition to Russia, and in April 2017 Kuznetsov was released from custody, since the duration of his detention "exceeded a reasonable time." After that, the Russian was under electronic surveillance in Paris and was regularly noted in the police department.
“After listening to the convincing arguments of our representative in support of the request for extradition, as well as answers in the process to the questions of the court and the parties, the French courts confirmed the validity of the Russian request for the extradition of Kuznetsov. The decree on his extradition was signed by the Prime Minister of France on November 21, 2017, ”the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation reported.
The press service of the department added that Kuznetsov filed a complaint against the court decision on the extradition of the Russian Federation. After studying the additional materials provided by the Russian side and guarantees of the rights of the accused during his detention in Russian penitentiaries, the French State Council at the end of December 2018 decided to reject his petition.
“Today, on January 3, 2019, accompanied by employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia and the Russian Interpol Bureau, Kuznetsov was extradited to Russia,” the General Prosecutor’s Office noted.
The ministry stressed that the Russian side attaches special importance to international cooperation and actively participates in it. That is why Moscow managed to achieve the extradition of Kuznetsov.
“The constant operational interaction with the French colleagues allows us to overcome the existing barriers caused by differences in our legal systems,” the General Prosecutor’s Office press service added.
In turn, the official representative of the Investigative Committee of Russia Svetlana Petrenko told reporters that the case Kuznetsova will be sent to the court after the completion of all necessary legal proceedings.
We add that in January 2018, the Basmanny Court of Moscow sentenced in absentia the former Kuznetsov's wife, Jeanne Bullock, to 11 years in prison for embezzlement on a particularly large scale. However, the United States refuses to extradite its citizen to the Russian side.