Spain has extradited a man accused of embezzling nearly $10 million from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to Moscow, The Russia Legal Information Agency reported.
The Russian side received Mikhail Lyagin, who is accused of embezzlement of 550 million rubles ($9.7 million) from the Russian Federal Security Service on Wednesday at the Madrid airport. Lyagin had been avoiding Russian justice in Spain and was put on the international wanted list.
The Spanish authorities agreed to arrange the extradition of the accused, who had been detained in the kingdom back in 2016. The news was reported by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation.
According to the investigation, Lyagin embezzled the money from a state-owned enterprise operating under the FSB. The prosecution alleges that as general director of Invest-Viktoria, Lyagin “deliberately failed to fulfill contractual obligations under three contractual agreements” and stole over 550 million rubles from Kavkazsky Voyenno Stroitelny Otdel (“Caucasian Military Construction Division”) FSUE. After that, the suspect committed transactions aimed at laundering more than 390 million rubles ($5.8 million).
Having committed the crime, Lyagin escaped and was declared an international fugitive. He was sentenced in absence to detention at home. The man was detained in Spain in February 2016, after which Russian Prosecutor General’s Office sent a request for his extradition.
The extradition request was granted in October 2016, but the procedure scheduled for last July did not take place at the Madrid airport as it had been planned since the Spanish court suspended the extradition.
