MOSCOW, October 1 (RAPSI) - The Russian Interior Ministry has sent the documents needed for the initiation of extradition procedure of the fugitive real estate mogul Sergei Polonsky to the Prosecutor General's Office, the ministry press service reported on Tuesday.

Now, the Prosecutor General's Office has to review the motion and prepare an evaluation of whether Russia has enough grounds for extradition and criminal prosecution.

The Interior Ministry also referenced a letter of Polonsky's former business partner in Combodia, Nikolai Doroshenko. From 2005 to 2012 Doroshenko participated in Polonsky's development projects in Cambodia. In his letter, Doroshenko reports threats of violence and numerous acts of breaking the law from the infamous tycoon Polonsky, the ministry reported.

Polonsky was charged in absentia last July as part of a criminal case involving the embezzlement of over 5.7 billion rubles (over $176 million) from the participants in an up market cooperative residential construction project in central Moscow.

More than 80 people lost money because of Polonsky's actions in the Kutuzovskaya Miliya case, according to the Interior Ministry statement.

Russia's Interior Ministry said earlier the businessman was hiding from investigators. According to Russian police, the Israeli authorities had informed them that Polonsky was in Israel on a tourist visa valid until September 27.

After Moscow's Tverskoy District Court orderd the arrest of Polonsky in absentia, he was placed on the international wanted list. Polonsky appealed the judgment a few days after it was handed down.

Russia isn't the only place where Polonsky has recently found himself in a bit of hot water. Polonsky was arrested with two Russian friends in Cambodia in December 2012 for allegedly attacking the six-person crew of a boat. The businessman was released in April, but ordered not to leave the country. In June a British tabloid newspaper reported that he was at a luxury apartment in Israel.

Polonsky's lawyer said that the Cambodian authorities had allowed Polonsky to travel to Israel for medical treatment. In August he left Israel "out of fears for his safety" and returned to his private island in Cambodia.