Russian State Duma member from the A Just Russia party Gennady Gudkov. Photo by EPA/BGNES
Gennady Gudkov, Member of the Russian Parliament, Duma, from the A Just Russia party, will sue Russia's NTB TV, over an interview with his Bulgarian accuser.
Gudkov claims the TV channel had disseminated false information by airing an interview with Bulgarian citizen, Ivaylo Zartov, who is accusing the MP of money laundering.
It emerged last week that Zartov has alerted the Committee, Russia's superior organ of prosecution, on activities by Gudkov performed outside of Russia.
The agency also wrote that an official representative of the Investigative Committee has confirmed that such a signal has been formally received by the prosecution.
The Russian authorities did not reveal the name of the accuser, but Gudkov, cited by the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, identified him as Ivaylo Zartov, currently serving a jail sentence of 12 years.
The MP claims he was introduced to Zartov many years ago by a senior Russian diplomat. Gudkov then recommended the Bulgarian to some of his partners only to find out that the latter had robbed the company.
The Russian politician also explains that the Bulgarian man had committed another robbery in the Czech Republic, stressing he had been accused by someone who is a "two-times convict."
"I fail to understand why and on whose expense is NTB sending a TV crew all the way to Bulgaria to console a criminal who has decided he feels deprived of the media spotlight. They filmed him blabbering non-sense, but somehow forgot to mention the interview was taken inside a jail cell," Gudkov says.
The Bulgarian citizen claims that the MP has made a series of investments in foreign companies via a bank in Cyprus and offshore companies, allegedly with money laundering purposes.
Gudkov labels the accusations "the usual dirty lie," adding they were probably made to eliminate him politically because he is from the opposition.
The Investigative Committee of Russia has stated it intends to consider the signal according to due procedures and within the legally mandated time framework.