The wife of former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov is being questioned in Moscow over a bank loan scam, police said on Thursday.
Yelena Baturina, a billionaire who made her fortune in construction during her husband’s 18-year tenure in office, is being questioned as part of an investigation into suspected embezzlement linked to a 13 billion ruble ($395 million) bank loan.
Investigators in February guaranteed her immunity.
The investigation relates to a 2009 deal under which Bank of Moscow lent to an obscure real estate firm. The firm used the money to buy land for a construction company owned by Baturina, at prices investigators said were inflated. Bank of Moscow head Andrei Borodin and his deputy have fled Russia and are on an international wanted list.
Luzhkov was sacked in September 2010 after former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he had lost trust in him.