A Moscow district court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for a former senior Interior Ministry investigator linked to a high-profile extortion case, who is currently on the country’s wanted list.
Former investigator Maxim Koganovsky was named in the case of Maj. Nelly Dmitrieva, who on October 5 was arrested for demanding $3 million to drop charges in a customs fraud case.
Dmitrieva asked Koganovsky to help her receive the hefty pay-off, investigators believe.
Dmitrieva is also said to be on a list of 60 officials implicated in death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in police custody in 2009. Magnitsky was detained on tax evasion charges after accusing a number of law enforcement officials of massive fraud.
In July, the Kremlin’s human rights body said the death was the result of “calculated, deliberate and inhumane neglect.”