Banker found dead in his swimming pool near Moscow
13:10 | 07/ 12/ 2007
MOSCOW, December 7 (RIA Novosti) - A top manager of state-controlled VTB,
Russia's second-largest bank, was found dead on Thursday afternoon in the
empty swimming pool of his luxury country house near Moscow.
Oleg Zhukovsky, who handled deals with major clients in the timber
industry,
had been tied up and tortured, business daily Kommersant re****ted on
Friday
citing investigators.
A 'suicide note' found in the house read: "I am tired of living. I ask you
not to blame anyone." Handwriting experts are ascertaining who penned the
note.
The paper said investigators found evidence that the house, in the elite
Lesnaya Opushka community in the Odintsovo District, to the west of the
capital, had been broken into, and that a plastic bag had been put over
Zhukovsky's head. The banker was known to have heart trouble, and may have
died while being tortured, investigators said.
However, a high-ranking investigation source told RIA Novosti that suicide
was still being considered as a possible cause of death.
"There were no signs of violence on the body," he said, adding that the
cause of death would be announced following an autopsy.
A senior official at VTB said: "Colleagues of Zhukovsky had not noticed
any
apparent motivation for suicide. The late banker had planned to proceed
with
his work in the bank."
The Moscow Region Prosecutor's Office told RIA Novosti that investigators
will decide on whether to start criminal proceedings following forensic
examinations.
Zhukovsky oversaw VTB's deals with major timber companies. Large parts of
the country's timber industry are rumored to be controlled by criminal
gangs, and the national budget loses hundreds of million of dollars a year
from illegal logging, which is also believed to be a major cause of
wildfires in the country.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071207/91344818.html
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