General Prosecutor's Office stated that the District Court of Larnaca (Cyprus) had decided to extradite to Russia the CEO of OOO “Russian Investment Group” Dmitry Kotlyarenko. Mr. Kotlyarenko, having also an American passport, is a defendant in several criminal cases in Russia, including theft of funds from Moscow budget totaling over 30 billion rubles. the former first deputy finance minister of the Moscow area, owner of the finance company "Horizon" and the publishing house OOO "ArtMedia Group”, Valery Nosov is targeted in one of these cases, as well as wanted ex-Finance Minister of the Moscow region Alexey Kuznetsov and his wife -President of OOO “RIGroup " Zhanna Bulok.

As the Prosecutor General of Russia, Dmitry Kotlyarenko was declared in the federal wanted list in December 2008, and in the international wanted list - in March of 2009 due to a criminal case of large-scale fraud (Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code), which investigates the Central Investigation Department at Internal Affairs of Moscow region. As stated in the materials of the case, Mr Kotlyarenko "in 2005-2008 committed embezzlement of OAO IKMO in excess of 1 billion rubles together with an organized criminal group he led; that fund was invested by the Government of Moscow Region in housing." According to investigation, the organizers of fraud entered into a fictitious contract for the construction of a residential complex in Klin, Moscow Region. To implement this agreement they had received targeted loans for the development of mortgage lending in accordance with the program of the Moscow region government. "As a result of a complicated criminal scheme the funds were stolen – they were transferred to the bank accounts in offshore zones", as it was stated in the case. Investigators are convinced that the organizers of the theft, including Mr. Kotlyarenko, originally had not planed to perform the contract, so their actions were regarded as fraud.

Dmitry Kotlyarenko was detained by Interpol in Cyprus in March 2009. A month later, General Prosecutor of Russia requested Cypriot authorities for his extradition and for the criminal case materials. Larnaca District Court reviewed the case for extradition in November last year and on July, 8 decided to extradite Mr. Kotlyarenko.

Note that the case of theft of 1 billion rubles is not the only one in which Dmitry Kotlyarenko performs. As Kommersant has repeatedly told, the investigation committee at the Interior Ministry is investigating the case of theft of about 24 billion rubles by fraud, taking the right of claim property worth about 5.5 billion rubles and the subsequent withdrawal of the assets of the Government of Moscow region abroad. In this case, former Finance Minister of the regional government Alexey Kuznetsov was also featured and his first deputy Valery Nosov together with Kuznetsov’s wife Zhanna Bulok. According to investigators, in 2007 on behalf of the Moscow Regional Investment Trust Company (MOITK), they founded the company "Rosveb", to which they passed a part of the assets. Six months later share issue of "Rosveb" was carried out at the expense of Russian investment group, the beneficial owner of which was Jeanne Buloke and the CEO - Dmitry Kotlyarenko. As a result, OOO “RIGroup" received a controlling stake in “Rosveb", however, the payment for the acquired shares was not made, according to the investigative committee. In addition, the gentlemen Nosov and Kuznetsov used their official position and instructed the Board of Directors of MOITK to sell Zhanna Bulok and Dmitry Kotlyarenko the most liquid assets at face value, while the remaining shares went to a few fictitious companies controlled by the same Ms. Bulok. At the same time payment of shares and assets was also made, according to the investigation. As a result MOITK lost the right to possess, use and dispose the property of the Moscow region. as suggested by consequence, the former Moscow Region Minister of Finance and his deputy damaged basically the treasury of the Moscow region, after MOITK began to issue loans of the budget money to entities controlled by Zhanna Bulok and Dmitry Kotlyarenko upon the direct instructions. This has led to the introduction of bankruptcy proceedings of MOITK (for details see "Kommersant" for March, 12 this year). In addition, Mr. Kotlyarenko is charged with theft of shares of Podolsky Chemical Plant in the amount of 2.875 billion rubles.

Following the decision of the court in Larnaca, Mr. Kotlyarenko was taken into custody by the Cypriot police. If his extradition is not abolished by higher authorities of Cyprus, he will be deported to Russia.