Putin: Billionaire’s arrest for curbing corruption
Moscow, April 2: The spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected suggestions on Monday that the arrest of an influential billionaire was part of a strategy to wrestle his business from him.
Ziyavudin Magomedov, who is worth $ 1.4 billion according to the Russian Forbes magazine, was arrested on Saturday along with his brother after the court refused to release him on bail of 2.5 billion rubles ($ 44 million), which is how much the police says he embezzled from infrastructure contracts he received from the government. The 49- yearold businessman from Russia’s Dagestan owns Summa, a conglomerate that includes energy, infrastructure, construction and agriculture assets.
He is believed to be part of the inner circle of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the former president who has enjoyed the support of Mr Putin.
Like many other Russian tycoons with previously close ties to leading officials, Mr Magomedov has received lucrative government contracts to build infrastructure for Russia’s showcase projects such as the World Cup. In recent years, Mr Magomedov got involved in venture projects.
He was an early investor in Richard Branson’s project, Hyperloop One, and is currently its board member. The arrest of the brothers on accusations they are part of a “criminal group”.