MOSCOW, January 21 (RAPSI) - A Preah Sihanouk province court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian and Cambodian national Nikolai Doroshenko in a case regarding the rights to the investment projects on four islands located near the resort town of Sihanoukville, RIA Novosti reports Wednesday citing the press secretary of Doroshenko's business partner, infamous Russian developer Sergei Polonsky.

Polonsky's representative stated that Doroshenko is currently in hiding and his whereabouts are unknown.

The arrest warrant is related to the case of four islands where Sergei Polonsky’s projects were carried out. In 2013, Doroshenko signed a commitment to transfer the investment licenses on the projects funded by Polonsky to Polonsky but has yet to do so.

The breach of commitment under Cambodian law is a criminal offense equal to fraud and illegal appropriation of property. The arrest warrant was issued for this offense.

In Cambodia, the islands can only be the property of the state. However, after land legislation reform in the mid-2000s, the right to use the land for investment projects can be transferred to a foreign investor. In the past, investment projects on the islands could only be carried out by citizens of Cambodia. Therefore, many projects by developers from Russia and other CIS counties were under Doroshenko’s name who has dual citizenship. After the law was amended, the actual investors, including Sergei Polonsky, requested that Doroshenko update the documents.

Sergei Polonsky is the founder of a multipurpose corporation, Mirax Group, which has carried out large development projects in Moscow.In June 2013, Russia’s Interior Ministry released a statement saying that Sergei Polonsky was charged in absentia and placed on the international wanted list for the alleged embezzlement of billions of rubles from his investors in Russia. In November 2013, he was arrested in Cambodia at Russia’s request, only to be released in January 2014.