Swedish MPs call for sanctions on Russian officials over Magnitsky case

MOSCOW, March 12 - RAPSI. Swedish MPs have called on the government to impose sanctions against Russian officials over the case of Sergey Magnitsky, an auditor for the Hermitage Capital investment fund, the fund reported on Monday.

The report says 59 Swedish parliamentarians appealed to Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt for the sanctions.

Magnitsky was charged with large-scale corporate tax evasion. He died in a Moscow pretrial detention center on November 16, 2009 after spending nearly a year behind bars.

Earlier, British MPs also requested sanctions against the officials placed on the "Magnitsky list" as involved in his prosecution.

Such requests are being considered by parliaments in several countries, including the United States. The sanctions imply, among other things, the freezing of the officials' assets abroad and the ban on granting them entry visas.

According to investigators, Magnitsky and his accomplices stole hundreds of millions of rubles from the state by manipulating tax returns between September and October 2007.

In turn, Hermitage Capital maintains that the investment fund had paid the 5.4 billion rubles ($182.75 million) in taxes, but the money was stolen by corporate raiders with the help of law enforcement officials. Magnitsky's prosecution has been attributed to this theft.

The Interior Ministry's investigative department deputy head Alexander Yagodin stated on Sunday that Magnitsky had never exposed any corruption schemes and was arrested on charge of a serious crime and there are no grounds for his rehabilitation.