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Oil tycoon linked to spy murder
27/12/2006 22:25 - (SA)
Moscow - Russia's Prosecutor-General said on Wednesday Leonid Nevzlin, former manager of the bankrupt Yukos oil firm, could have ordered the poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.
"A version is being looked at that those who ordered these crimes could be the same people who are on an international wanted list for serious and very serious crimes, one of whom is ... Leonid Nevzlin," the Prosecutor-General's office said.
Nevzlin, one of the most senior men in the business empire of jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, now lives in Israel.
He says charges against him by the Russian authorities are fabricated.
Investigating alleged wrongdoing
Nevzlin's spokesperson was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. In late November, Nevzlin's spokesperson said that Litvinenko had been investigating alleged wrongdoing by the Russian authorities in connection with Yukos before his death.
Litvinenko, who died in London on November 23, made a deathbed statement accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of his murder.
The Kremlin has dismissed Litvinenko's allegations as "nonsense".
Nevzlin gained a controlling stake in Yukos when Khodorkovsky handed him a 60% share in the holding company that controlled the firm.
Yukos has been driven into bankruptcy by massive back tax claims.
- Reuters
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