US Court Puts Off Hearing of Borodin Case at Request of LawyersA US court has put off hearing of the case of Pavel Borodin, former Kremlin property manager and incumbent state secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union, at the request of his lawyers, said Borodin's lawyer in Moscow Friday.Defendant lawyer Boris Kuznetsov denied media reports that Borodin was depressed by Thursday's ruling of the US Brooklyn District Court, which ordered him held without bail until January 25 in a 15-minute hearing that mostly addressed procedural and diplomatic issues. It is time to work out the appeals that lawyers will raise to the court, for instance, the possibility of bail, said the lawyer, adding that a bail claim of US$300,000 was not accepted at Thursday's court session. Kuznetsov said that his colleague Alex Fishkin in the US talked to Borodin for one and a half hours on Thursday and claimed that their client was in fairly high spirits and even expressed readiness to travel to Switzerland to answer the questions of Swiss prosecutors. However, Borodin later agreed with his lawyers that he should refrain from a visit to Switzerland for the time being. According to Kuznetsov, Borodin is confident of his innocence and that in Switzerland his case will not reach the stage of court proceedings. The lawyer stressed that in order to prove Borodin's involvement in money laundering, the investigation should first prove the money was secured in illegal ways. "Even if we suppose that Borodin took a bribe, that happened in Russia and can hardly be proven in Switzerland," he said. Commenting on the speculation regarding the invitation to Borodin for attendance to the US presidential inauguration ceremony as a provocation, Kuznetsov said he "cannot claim that, but there are things to be thought over." For instance, he said that on January 10, three days before the invitation was sent to Borodin, a new order for his arrest was issued in Switzerland. On January 17, 15 hours before Borodin's arrival, the US warrant for his arrest stated the number of his passport and flight number. Kuznetsov said he did not know all the details of the operations of the US police, but felt that "all this should be looked into." Borodin, a former Kremlin official close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was ordered held without bail for at least a week in a New York prison by the Brooklyn District Court on Thursday following his arrest on an international warrant charging him with money laundering involving Swiss companies. Geneva's chief prosecutor Bernard Bertossa said Borodin, 54, was wanted in Switzerland for allegedly laundering 25 million dollars and demanded for his extradition, while Borodin has strenuously denied any wrongdoing. Borodin will appear in court again on January 25, when the court may reconsider the bail proposals. |
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