Interpol puts Kerimov on international wanted list

The Interpol put Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, major shareholder of the Russian Uralkali potash company and the Belarusian Potash Company, on international wanted list, head of the information and public relations department of the Belarusian Interior Ministry Konstantin Shalkevich told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. “The Interpol put Kerimov on international wanted list. The information about him is included in the database of suspects wanted by the Interpol,” he said. On Monday, September 2, it was reported that the Belarusian Investigative Committee is prosecuting Suleiman Kerimov as a defendant in the criminal case, which is being investigated against the officials in the closed joint stock Belarusian Potash Company. The Investigative Committee emphasized that Kerimov’s actions are classified by the investigation as abuse of office; the maximum sentence for this crime is a jail term of up to 10 years with confiscation of property. Moreover, the Investigative Committee noted that apart from discovered instances of inflicting damages upon the Belarusian side, the investigation uncovered other activity which caused significant damage to Russia and are classified as crimes under Russian law. The Investigation Committee of Belarus initiated criminal proceedings on charges of power abuse and official misconduct against another four top officials of the Belarusian Potash Company, including Oleg Petrov, a supervisory board member; Konstantin Solodovnikov, the company’s first deputy general director; Igor Yevstratov, the deputy general director for finance; Dmitry Samoilov, the head of the freight department. Both the Belarusian police and Interpol put them on their wanted lists. All of them, including Vladislav Baumgertner, are accused of official misconduct which significantly damaged the state and public interests of Belarus, the Belaruskaliy open joint-stock company and the Belarusian Potash Company.