SWITZERLAND: EX-KREMLIN AIDE PAVEL BORODIN HAS REFUSED TO ANSWER QUESTIONING BY SWISS JUDGE ON MONEY-LAUNDERING CHARGES

Record ID: 648365

  • Title: SWITZERLAND: EX-KREMLIN AIDE PAVEL BORODIN HAS REFUSED TO ANSWER QUESTIONING BY SWISS JUDGE ON MONEY-LAUNDERING CHARGES
  • Date: 11th June 2001
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (JUNE 11, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF COURTHOUSE IN GENEVA 0.03 2. SV SIGN READING "PALAIS DE JUSTICE" (COURTHOUSE) 0.08 3. SV MEDIA/PAVEL BORODIN ENTERING GENEVA'S COURTHOUSE (2 SHOTS) 0.19 4. MCU (French) ROBERT ASSAEL, ONE OF BORODIN'S LAWYERS SAYING: "Today is the continuation of the hearings. Everyone who was indicted will be asked to appear at the court, and the judge will continue his questioning." 0.32 5. MCU JOURNALISTS 0.34 6. MCU (French) ASSAEL SAYING: "Mr Borodin considers that he has done nothing wrong, so he does not have justify what he has not done. Therefore he will not answer to the questions. He will use his right to keep silent." 0.48 7. SV LAWYERS ENTERING COURTHOUSE 0.53 (W5) GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (JUNE 11, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. LV JOURNALISTS WAITING OUTSIDE COURTHOUSE 0.57 9. SV EX KREMLIN AIDE PAVEL BORODIN LEAVING COURTHOUSE, SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS/MCU (Russian) FORMER KREMLIN AIDE PAVEL BORODIN SAYING: "I respect the decision of Geneva's court and we will carry it out. That's all I can say. It's finished for today. (ASKED IF HE IS FREE TO LEAVE, BORODIN SAYS:) "Of course, I am always free". / (ASKED IF HE IS LEAVING TODAY, BORODIN SAYS:) "It depends if there are any flights." 1.32 10. SV BORODIN ENTERING A TAXI 1.39 11. SLV/SV BORODIN'S TAXI LEAVING/MEDIA (3 SHOTS) 1.49 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Reuters ID: LVAD6ZZ0FUK130J4U8WBDSD3M0R9
  • Story Text: Ex-Kremlin aide Pavel Borodin has refused to answer
    questioning by a Swiss judge who recently indicted him on
    money-laundering charges.



    Former Kremlin aide Pavel Borodin refused on Monday
    (June 11) to answer the questions posed by Swiss judge Daniel
    Devaud who recently indicted him on money-laundering charges.

    It is the second time Pavel Borodin uses his constitutional
    right to remain silent.

    Borodin, a confidant of former Russian President Boris
    Yeltsin and secretary of the nebulous union between Russia and
    Belarus, was indicted last April.

    Investigators suspect him of using Swiss and offshore
    banks to launder more than 25 million USD in kickbacks on 500
    million USD of Kremlin renovation contracts awarded to two
    Swiss-based construction firms, Mabetex and Mercata.

    "Mr Borodin considers that he has done nothing wrong, so he
    does not have justify what he has not done. Therefore he will
    not answer to the questions. He will use his right to keep
    silent", said Robert Assael, one of Borodin's lawyers.

    He and the firms deny the charges, but Borodin's lawyers
    admitted in court that he had accounts in the city.

    Swiss judge Danial Devaud summoned Borodin and four other
    people indicted last year to appear at the hearing. The
    indicted are Behgjet Pacolli, the Kosovo-born chief executive
    of Mabetex, two Geneva asset managers and a Geneva lawyer.

    Russia paid five million Swiss francs (2.87 million USD)
    bail in cash for Borodin's release from a Geneva jail on April
    12. He flew home the next day, ending his week-long stay in
    the Swiss city and a total of three months in foreign jails.

    He was arrested in January in New York on a Swiss
    international warrant and extradited to Switzerland in April.

    Last year Russia dropped its own inquiry into Borodin.

    The next hearing will be held on July 3 and 4, 2001.


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