A British financier and self-professed ‘number one enemy’ of Vladimir Putin has been arrested in Spain at Moscow’s request, it has emerged.
William Browder, once the boss of late anti-corruption Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, was detained in Madrid on a Russian Interpol arrest warrant.
‘Just was arrested by Spanish police in Madrid on a Russian Interpol arrest warrant. Going to the police station right now,’ he tweeted. ‘They won’t tell me which station’, Mr Browder added.
The US-born British national, 54, also posted a photo of himself in the back of a police van but a police spokesman could not immediately confirm the arrest.
Mr Browder, the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital management, has been a thorn in the side of the Russian authorities for more than a decade after he tried to expose the ‘looting’ of his investments in the country by corrupt officials.
In 2009, Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer he hired to investigate what had happened to his money, died in Russian custody.
William Browder (pictured), once the boss of late anti-corruption Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, was detained in Madrid on a Russian Interpol arrest warrant
The 54-year-old also posted a photo of himself in the back of a police van but a police spokesman could not immediately confirm the arrest
William Browder, once the boss of late anti-corruption Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, was detained in Madrid on a Russian Interpol arrest warrant
Browder – originally American and banned form entering Russian – lobbied the US congress to pass the ‘Magnitsky Act’, a law which deeply angered Vladimir Putin punishing alleged human rights abusers.
The financier, aged 54, has expressed fears that he could be targeted by Russian assassins saying in the past: ‘If I’m killed, you will know who did it.’
Russian attempted last year to put Browder on the Interpol arrest list.
Conservative MP Sir Peter Bottomley told the Press Association: ‘I have notified the Foreign Secretary’s office and I shall be speaking to the Spanish ambassador.
‘It is absurd that a person with British nationality who has been exposing the brutal and fatal treatment of Sergei Magnitsky should be arrested at the request of the Russians.
Browder – originally American and banned form entering Russian – lobbied the US congress to pass the ‘Magnitsky Act’, a law which deeply angered Vladimir Putin (pictured) punishing alleged human rights abusers
Browder is the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital management, and had employed lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in Russian custody in 2009 who had exposed how the company was victim of massive fraud. His mother is pictured standing over his body during his funeral in Moscow
‘The Spanish authorities, with the encouragement of the British, should release Bill Browder.
‘The Russian ambassador should be summoned to explain why it is that his country fails to prosecute the murderers of Magnitsky and instead has been for years trying to arrest Bill Browder, who is campaigning for justice and against corruption in Russia.’
In March Mr Browder told the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee that he believed the Russian government wanted him dead.
He also had links with Russian millionaire Alexander Perepilichnyy, who collapsed and died while jogging near his home in Weybridge, Surrey, in 2012.
Mr Perepilichnyy had been helping Mr Browder’s Hermitage Capital Investment expose a £142 million money-laundering operation.