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RUSSIA

Swiss freeze ex-Russian minister’s ‘millions’

Swiss authorities are investigating a former Russian agriculture minister over suspected money laundering and have frozen assets in connection with the case, Switzerland's top prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Swiss freeze ex-Russian minister's 'millions'
Former Russian agriculture minister Yelena Skrynnik in 2009. Photo: AFP

The office of the attorney general (OAG) confirmed in an email “the opening of a criminal proceeding in spring 2013 against a former Russian minister of agriculture and other accused persons on suspicion of qualified money laundering.”  

“In this context, the OAG has seized assets,” it added, without naming suspects or specifying the amounts in question.
   
Russian media reported on Wednesday that Swiss authorities had seized 60 million francs ($61 million) in accounts belonging to Yelena Skrynnik, who served as Russian agriculture minister between 2009 and 2012, and who reportedly now lives in Switzerland.
   
According to the Interfax news agency, “around $140 million were injected into Mrs. Skrynnik's Swiss accounts between 2007 and 2012, which raises some serious questions.”

The attorney general's office said it had requested mutual legal assistance from Russian authorities, but that the request “has not been executed until now”.

In August, the OAG confirmed it had opened a probe against a former Russian deputy agriculture minister suspected of embezzling some one billion rubles ($15.7 million) in public funds.
   
That money had been siphoned from the state-owned Rosagroleasing company, which leases agricultural machinery and has itself been embroiled in a financial scandal in Russia, it said.
   
The OAG did not identify the former deputy minister involved, but media at the time named him as Alexej Baschanow who worked under Skrynnik.
   
The attorney general's office said it had limited its investigation to analyzing the accounts and businesses controlled by him and his family members in Switzerland.
   
It had passed on its findings to Russian authorities, who had asked the Swiss to freeze the man's accounts and hand over all documents related to them.

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