Lawyers confirm Rybolovlev was charged in Monaco, but refrain from details

MOSCOW, November 7. /TASS/. Lawyers for Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev have officially confirmed that he was charged in Monaco, but have not elaborated.

“We confirm that Mr. Rybolovlev was named suspect (‘inculpe’), as Madam Attorney General [Sylvie Petit-Leclair] has indicated earlier today. We also confirm that Mr. Rybolovlev is subject to judicial control, but still enjoys complete freedom of movement. He is only restricted from communicating with the persons concerned by the proceedings and to appear on the judge’s summons, as he has always been doing and will continue to do,” says the statement by his lawyers, Herve Temime and Thomas Giaccardi.

The lawyers pointed out that an indictment (l’inculpation) under laws of Monaco is equal to “mise en examen” in France.

According to the lawyers, this “represents a status granted to an individual when the judge considers that there is enough proof against him. This does not mean, however, that sufficient grounds exist for the suspect to be brought before the trial, and even lesser grounds to find him guilty of any offense.”

“We do insist on the fact that at this stage Mr. Rybolovlev is presumed innocent, and that this presumption and the rights attached to it should be strictly respected,” the document says.

Rybolovlev’s detention

Earlier on Wednesday, AFP agency said that Rybolovlev was charged by Monaco prosecutors in relation to an investigation into corruption. However, he was released under judicial control after questioning. Later, the Russian billionaire’s spokesman Dmitry Chechkin confirmed to TASS that Rybolovlev had been released.

The local newspaper Nice-Matin reported that the other three people charged alongside Rybolovlev were Christine and Antoine Narmino, respectively the wife and son of Philippe Narmino, Monaco’s former justice minister, and Tatiana Bersheda, a lawyer for the Russian tycoon.