MOSCOW, April 3 - RAPSI. The case of Hermitage Capital investment fund consultant Sergey Magnitsky may be ceased if his relatives issue such a demand, investigator Boris Kibis said on Tuesday.

He made the statement at the Moscow Ostankinsky Court where an appeal against resuming the investigation into the notorious case is under consideration.

According to Kibis, the case will be referred to court if Magnitsky's relatives do not request an end to the investigation.

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

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 maintained that it had paid 5.4 billion rubles ($184.14 million) in taxes, but the money was stolen abetted by law enforcement officials. Magnitsky's prosecution has been attributed to this theft.

The criminal case against Magnitsky was terminated by the Investigative Committee due to his death, but the Prosecutor General's Office decided to resume the investigation.