MOSCOW, November 30 - RAPSI. A Moscow district court has sanctioned on Wednesday the arrest of businessman Viktor Baturin on attempted fraud charges, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) reports from the courtroom.

Baturin is the brother of Yelena Baturina, Russia's richest woman and the wife of former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

The court held for the investigators' petition to issue an arrest warrant for Baturin.

Baturin was detained on Monday night at Inteco's office after going there to cash a counterfeit 10.8 million ruble ($344,800) promissory note. The Inteco staff suspected the note was forged and called the police. Investigators charged Baturin with attempted fraud on Tuesday and sent the case to court.

Baturin said he knew the promissory note was forged and he had received it from his sister. He also said he has two other counterfeit notes at his apartment.
In June a Moscow district court fined Baturin 300,000 rubles ($9,550) and placed him on three-year probation for fraud in connection with the sale of premises in central Moscow.

Investigators said Baturin sold non-residential premises with an area of 211 square meters to his friend for 23.8 million rubles ($757,700) on June 2, 2008.

Meanwhile, Baturin then sold the same premises to a Gazstroykomplekt top manager for $1.5 million on June 30, 2008. However, the second buyer told the court that Baturin returned the money that he paid for the premises and he no longer had any claims against Baturin.

Inteco is a diversified company and Russia's development market leader.