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Swiss Charge Former Kremlin Aide Pavel Borodin
A Swiss judge has charged former top Kremlin aide Pavel Borodin with money-laundering, one of the defendant's Swiss lawyers said on Saturday.
Geneva investigating judge Daniel Devaud indicted the former aide to Russian ex-President Boris Yeltsin during a two-hour hearing at the hilltop city courthouse after Borodin's extradition from the United States, his lawyer Dominique Poncet said on Saturday.
Devaud and chief prosecutor Bernard Bertossa accuse Borodin of having used a network of offshore companies to launder more than $25 million in kickbacks for renovation contracts while heading the Kremlin's vast property empire under Yeltsin.
Borodin arrived earlier on Saturday from New York where he gave up his opposition to extradition this week, citing the need to clear his name of the charges which he denies.
"Justice must triumph," Borodin told Russia's Interfax news agency.
He had been arrested on an international warrant in New York on January 17 as he arrived for the inauguration of U.S. President George W. Bush, angering the administration of Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin, to whom Borodin is said to be close.
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