Summons for ERG boss

THE boss of a Kazakhstan mining company is being summoned to appear before a London court, after failing to turn up to questioning by the Serious Fraud Office.

Benedikt Sobotka, of Eurasian Resources Group, was issued with an arrest warrant last month, after not attending an SFO interview as part of its probe into subsidiary Eurasian Natural Resources Corp and its mining rights. Mr Sobotka is not a suspect, given the focus is on the period before he took charge, but he had been called as a witness.

The warrant was withdrawn this week, and Westminster magistrates court issued him with a summons. Mr Sobotka’s spokesman said neither he nor his lawyers “have been made aware of the summons process being commenced”. The SFO declined to comment.