In Germany, an investigation was terminated against Alisher Usmanov

In Germany, the Prosecutor General of the Federal Land Hessen, located in Frankfurt, previously closed the investigation of cases on suspicion of laundering money against Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov, Radio Liberty correspondent reports.

In an interview with “Freedom”, the chief prosecutor Georg Ungefuk noted that the investigation in the case of “71-year-old businessman from the Russian Federation on suspicion of money laundering was previously terminated on October 11, 2024 with the consent of the accused.”

At the same time, the accused must pay 4 million euros. One and a half million will go to the needs of numerous institutions engaged in socially useful activities. Two and a half million euros will be credited to the state. After receipt of funds, the process will be closed.

The legislation of Germany allows prosecutors and courts to terminate the further investigation of the crime if "by fulfilling the cash obligations, the public need for criminal prosecution is eliminated." The severity of sane acts should not prevent this.

When making a decision, the prosecutor’s office took into account the fact that the acts, imputed by Usmanov, could not be investigated either in Germany or the Hessen land. In addition, crimes committed in another country did not harm individuals and legal entities in Germany. Due to the acts of the accused, the financial damage of Germany did not occur, and after the commission of the crimes, a lot of time passed.

The interlocutor of Radio Liberty, Berlin Criminal Law Expert, explained that the paragraph of the legislation applied to Usmanov indicates a special severity of guilt, but the termination of the crime is due to the fact that his investigation is almost impossible.

If the case came to the court, perhaps it would have to be abandoned due to the insufficiency of evidence and justify Usmanov. According to the lawyer, the justification of the Russian businessman would not correspond to the real situation and the severity of crimes. The Prosecutor General of Hesse, in all likelihood, decided to terminate the investigation by imposing the highest monetary obligations, the lawyer emphasized.