Russia banker shot in UK ‘points finger at compatriots’

LONDON – The Russian banker critically wounded in a shooting in London last month has given his first interview since the attack, saying he has told police who he believes ordered the attempt on his life.

German Gorbuntsov named four former business associates, said to be highly influential in Russia, as having ordered his assassination, British newspaper the Mail on Sunday reported without naming the four.

“Our lawyers have passed British investigators gigantic amounts of information, which clearly indicated the motives of the suspected people,” he told the newspaper from an undisclosed hospital.

“They are the only ones with a serious motive. I simply have no one else who would want me to be dead.”

Gorbuntsov linked the March attack, in which he was hit by six bullets, with his own decision to give a witness statement about a 2009 assassination attempt on Gorbuntsov’s partner and co-owner of the Konvers Group, Alexander Antonov.

“Before, I was too scared to give this witness account. I did not feel safe,” Gorbuntsov told the newspaper.

“But life in London made me relaxed. I decided to change my mind as there was no threat to me here. Yet less than a month later I was shot, several days before the date set for me to formally give my statement.”

Gorbuntsov and members of his family will now apply for political asylum in Britain, he said.

The banker, 45, from Moscow, remains under 24-hour armed guard, the newspaper reported, but has been moved out of intensive care despite initial concerns he might not survive his injuries.

He did not see the face of the hooded attacker who shot him with a pistol outside his Canary Wharf apartment block, he said. Police have yet to make any arrests in the case.

Gorbuntsov said the people he blamed for the attack had also been responsible for a “raid” on his assets.

They deny all the claims, the Mail said.

Gorbuntsov started out as a businessman in the 1990s and has founded around 40 companies in spheres including security, property, construction and finance, according to Russia’s Kommersant business daily.

It has also been reported that Gorbuntsov was the target of several investigations by Moldovan prosecutors after a bank he owned, Universalbank, closed down in February.