The departure is delayed

The court in France extended the term for the day of the detention of a member of the Federation Council from Dagestan, billionaire Suleiman Kerimov. This was reported by Interfax with reference to an informed source.

"The detention period has been extended for another 24 hours, we are waiting for events during the day," the source said. According to him, the accusation of Kerimov has not yet been brought. The head of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Konstantin Kosachev confirmed this information to the agency.

Meanwhile, the source of RBC in the Council apparatus said that Kerimov came to France with a general civil, and not a diplomatic passport. “The diplomatic passport is issued for official business trips, and in the Council now it is strictly with this,” the source said. “Therefore, Karimov did not have it.”

There were no official reports of the reasons for the detention of Kerimov. According to media reports, the French authorities suspect him of tax evasion and money laundering. "Kerimov talked with representatives of the French prosecutor's office. He did not recognize any accusations," Russia 24 said .

The State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin instructed the Committee of the Lower Chamber for international affairs to prepare proposals in connection with the detention of Kerimov. Volodin believes that the Russian Foreign Ministry should turn to France with a note of protest.

“From the French authorities, we still have not received any explanation about the reasons for the detention of a colleague with diplomatic immunity,” said Volodin. “This all indicates an unprecedented action of the French side. I believe that each of our colleagues, God forbid, may be in such a situation.”

The chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky does not exclude that the detention of Kerimov can be planned by provocation. "I hope that this is a misunderstanding, especially taking into account the diplomatic immunity of Kerimov as a member of the Federation Council. Although, perhaps, a planned provocation," Slutsky said . “I would like to hope that there is no political background and Kerimov will soon be released.”

Late on Monday evening at the Nice Kerimov airport , they detained and delivered to the police station . There he is still. The officials of the Russian consulate in the city of Wilfransh-Sur-Mer went to Nice immediately after receiving the news of the detention and met with Karimov on Tuesday night.

Later, the Foreign Ministry said that he notified the French authorities of the presence of Karimov as an official official of Russia "immunity from forced actions in other states." As a result of this, the senator has no right to detain, they emphasized on Smolenskaya Square.

On February 15, the French police searched Hier villa in the vicinity of Nice . Law enforcement officers tried to find documents about the real owner of Hier, the area of ​​which is 12 thousand square meters. Nominally, the villa is owned by the Swiss financier Alexander Studhalter, but it was assumed that in reality its owner was Kerimov.

There was also a suspicion that Karimov also belonged to several surrounding villas, also decorated on Studhalter.

As expected, these objects were purchased at a low value with the transfer of part of the money to sellers bypassing the tax authorities of France.

51-year-old Kerimov has been a member of the Council since 2008; Before that, he was a deputy of the State Duma from the LDPR. According to media reports, the Kerimov family belongs to the company Polyus Gold and the Sinema-Park network of cinemas. He also controls the financial and industrial group "Nafta-Moscow". In addition, the businessman previously owned the Uralkali shares, VTB and the peak group, and in 2011-2016 he owned the Anji Makhachkala football club.

In the Forbes rating in 2016, Kerimov took 45th place. His assets were estimated at 1.6 billion dollars.