London-based Russians at centre of corruption probe

Four senior London-based Russians were this afternoon at the centre of a corruption investigation at the taxpayer-funded European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The EBRD is funded by countries around the world with the brief of investing in projects in the former Soviet Union in the hope of improving economies there.

Today it emerged that the City of London Police and Russian authorities are investigating "alleged criminal activities" by four Russians assigned to the EBRD by Moscow.

One of the four, Yelena Kotova, has been dismissed from the role by the Kremlin, Russia's economy ministry said.

The four were Russian representatives in the London headquarters with the power of voting on which projects should win funding.

EBRD officials first started investigating the four last summer. Today it stripped them of their immunity status at the request of the Foreign Office and Russian authorities to facilitate police investigations.

The Russian statement said its Ministry of the Interior investigative committee is investigating Kotova's activities. It did not name or mention the other three.

The EBRD provided funding for about 400 projects last year, all of which would have gone before its international panel of directors, including the four Russians, for approval.

The City of London Police's Overseas Corruption Unit is handling the investigation from the British end.

Last March, police arrested a man who was an EBRD employee and a woman over corruption allegations but the two investigations are not thought to be linked.

By its nature, the organisation works in some of the most corrupt countries in the world. Part of its work is to try and improve corruption levels by applying western business practices.