GREECE: RUSSIAN FORMER MEDIA MOGUL VLADIMIR GUSINSKY FREED ON BAIL FROM GREEK PRISON ON ALLEGED MMULTI MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD CHARGES

Record ID: 648143

  • Title: GREECE: RUSSIAN FORMER MEDIA MOGUL VLADIMIR GUSINSKY FREED ON BAIL FROM GREEK PRISON ON ALLEGED MMULTI MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD CHARGES
  • Date: 29th August 2003
  • Summary: (EU) (ATHENS, GREECE) (AUGUST 29, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF KORYDALLOS PRISON, WHERE VLADIMIR GUSINSKY WAS BEING HELD (3 SHOTS) 0.15 2. SLV MEDIA OUTSIDE PRISON 0.20 3. VARIOUS, GUSINSKY LEAVING PRISON (3 SHOTS) 0.36 4. VARIOUS, SMILING GUSKINSKY WALKING TOWARDS PRISON GATES 0.47 5. VARIOUS,. GUSINSKY WALKING THROUGH PRISON GATE AND GETTING INTO CAR 1.00 6. SLV CAR DRIVING AWAY 1.07 7. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALEXANDROS LIKOUREZOS, GUSINKSY'S GREEK LAWYER, SAYING: "For the moment he has to stay in Greece he cannot leave the country. What he will do now is not decided yet. We will discuss it and plan our strategy." [REPORTER: WHAT ABOUT THE EXTRADITION REQUEST?] "No official extradition request has been filed with the Greek authorities. Russia has a time limit of the first of October to submit the request with all the necessary documents this has not been done yet and I don't know if this is going to happen." 1.45 8. SLV LIKOUREZOS TALKING ON PHONE 1.50 9. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIKOUREZOS SAYING: "He is very happy today that he is free. He is a strong character. We finished the first phase, the first phase has been concluded we will see the next one." [REPORTER: AND THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM?] "The charges according to the Russian warrant of arrest have been evaluated by the Spanish court and the Spanish court has rejected the charges. So there haven't been any new charges." 2.19 10. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL, ATHENS, WHERE GUSINSKY IS STAYING 2.24 11. WIDE OF FLAGS OUTSIDE OF HOTEL 2.30 12. SLV OF GUSINKSY'S LAWYER ENTERING HOTEL 2.40 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 13th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ATHENS, GREECE
  • City:
  • Country: Greece Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVACEJJESPBPE95HRRCWV53HG09Y
  • Story Text: Former media mogul Vladimir Gusinsky, wanted in
    Russia on suspicion of a multi-million fraud deal, has been
    freed from an Athens jail on bail.




    Vladimir Gusinsky walked out of Athens Korydallos
    high security prison on Friday (August 29) where he had
    been kept for five days after being transferred by
    authorities from Athens International Airport, where he was
    arrested on August 21. The Russian businessman was arrested
    on an international warrant on suspicion of a $250 million
    fraud in Russia.

    In a sign of the political urgency and international
    pressure at work in the case, Gusinsky was ordered freed
    just one day after applying for his release. Less
    high-profile cases have to wait for weeks or even months
    for a decision.

    His Greek lawyer Alexandros Likourezos said Gusinsky
    was ordered to be released on a 100,000 euro ($108,200 U.S.

    dollars) bail but could not leave Greece.

    He said Gusinsky had not decided how he would be
    spending his time but was happy to be free and would stay
    in a local Athens hotel.

    Gusinsky, one of a small elite of Russian businessmen
    who had made vast fortunes in the privatisation of the
    1990, was arrested in the midst of a row between the
    Kremlin and another oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

    The row has fuelled talk that President Vladimir Putin
    is reining in the super-rich elite ahead of parliamentary
    and presidential elections.

    An appeals court will rule in coming weeks on whether
    he will be extradited to Russia.

    Likourezos said Greece has not yet received a formal
    request for his extradition from Moscow, but Russian
    officials said they were preparing the documents. Officials
    have a time frame of October 1 to submit the request.

    "No official extradition request has been filed with
    the Greek authorities. Russia has a time limit of the first
    of October to submit the request with all the necessary
    documents this has not been done yet and I don't know if
    this is going to happen," Likourezos said.

    Likourezos said if the request is not received by the
    October 1 deadline, Gusinsky was free to leave.

    Both the United States and Israel have urged Greece not
    to extradite Gusinsky, who holds a Russian and Israeli
    passport.

    Greek media reported Israel had also contacted the
    foreign ministry to demand his immediate release. The
    Israeli embassy confirmed it has offered Gusinsky it's
    consular services.

    Gusinsky lost his business in 2000 and fled Russia
    after falling foul of the Kremlin and authorities opened a
    criminal case against him. He owned Russia's biggest
    independent television station NTV before the state wrested
    control from him using the company's massive debt as
    leverage.

    Gusinsky was then arrested in Spain. But a Spanish
    court in 2001 threw out all charges against him. Since
    leaving Spain he has lived in Israel. Lykourezos said there
    had not been any new charges against him since the Spanish
    court rejected those charges.



  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register