Russian oligarch Sergei Polonsky—who is being sought by Moscow authorities to face multimillion-dollar embezzlement charges—was arrested Monday morning on Koh Rong off the coast of Sihanoukville following a short-lived attempt to evade capture, witnesses and senior police officials said.
“He tried to escape and he ran away into the…jungle on Koh Rong, but we caught him,” said National Police spokesman Lieutenant General Kirth Chantharith.
Lt. Gen. Chantharith said that while Russian authorities had not yet been informed of Mr. Polonsky’s arrest, the 41-year-old businessman would be extradited to his native country “as soon as possible.”
“Police chased Mr. Polonsky beginning in the early morning, but weren’t able to arrest him until 11 a.m.,” said Brigadier General Tak Vantha, Preah Sihanouk provincial police chief.
Brig. Gen. Vantha said police also briefly detained for questioning two other foreigners and a Cambodian who aided in Mr. Polonsky’s ill-fated escape attempt, though he declined to name the three men.
Photos posted to the website of Cambodia Express News reveal the foreigners to be fellow Russian Valery Novikov and his Ukrainian nephew Artur Yavorskiy, both employees of Mr. Polonsky. The two men, along with Mr. Polonsky and the Cambodian, are shown being escorted by police down Sihanoukville’s Victory Pier in handcuffs.
“Only Mr. Polonsky was named in the arrest warrant from Phnom Penh…. The other three were released this evening,” Brig. Gen. Vantha said.
Mr. Polonsky—who has been living on Koh Dek Kuol, a tiny private island near Koh Rong—was charged in absentia in July with embezzling $176 million from about 80 investors in an unfinished Moscow development project called the Kutuzovskaya Mile. Last week, he was added to Interpol’s list of most-wanted criminals for “large scale fraud.”
Mr. Polonsky also served three months in a Cambodian prison earlier this year for allegedly assaulting six Cambodian boatmen on December 30 last year.
Residents of Koh Rong, an island popular among tourists and backpackers, recounted the events leading up to the Russian’s arrest.
“Police came on a speedboat at about 7 a.m. this morning, at least 30,” said Paddy Robinson, manager of the Monkey Island resort, a favorite haunt of the Russian.
Mr. Robinson said police combed the island’s densely forested interior for several hours before locating Mr. Polonksy shortly before noon and taking him immediately to Sihanoukville.
“[The police] looked all around Paradise [Bungalows] and our bungalows as well,” Mr. Robinson said.
“He was quite well liked on the island because he had a habit of buying a whole bar full of people drinks,” he added.
Christina Hartfell, manager of Paradise Bungalows, confirmed that Mr. Polonsky had been staying at her resort prior to his arrest, but said she was not on Koh Rong at the time.
“There were quite a lot of police boats and police. It caused quite a stir,” Ms. Hartfell said.
Ros Sitha, Mr. Polonsky’s lawyer, said his client was en route to Phnom Penh Monday evening.
“[Police] took him from Kompong Som to Phnom Penh tonight because the international police [Interpol] want to meet him,” Mr. Sitha said, adding that he would meet with his client Tuesday.
A representative of the Russian Embassy in Phnom Penh declined to comment.
During an interview in Phnom Penh on Friday, representatives of Mr. Polonsky—including Mr. Novikov, a close adviser—said their employer stands little chance of receiving a fair trial in Moscow unless he first settles with investors in the Kutuzovskaya Mile development.
“He wants to go to Moscow… so if they can somehow promise him—[a] real promise—that they won’t arrest him or put him only [under house arrest], he will go to Moscow,” said Hagai Pipko, the manager of Mr. Polonsky’s planned Cambodia-based technology company, Polonium.
Mr. Pipko said Mr. Polonsky has offered to compensate the Kutuzovskaya Mile investors and promised to complete the project.
“In addition to the apartments that they will get, he wants to give them compensation for the [delayed construction]: $120,000 for each one of those people…for around 80 shareholders,” Mr. Pipko said, reiterating Mr. Polonsky’s claim that former partners of his real estate firm Mirax Group, since renamed Potok, are to blame for his legal troubles.
Mr. Pipko framed Mr. Polonsky’s present legal situation as a race against time: settle with investors before his powerful enemies are able to assure his arrest and imprisonment in Russia.
“Because they [Mr. Polonsky’s former partners] see that soon this problem will be solved…they are now trying to push it much harder with the Interpol,” he said.
Mr. Novikov said Mr. Polonsky had even planned to fly to Russia Monday to clear his name.
“Polonksy now has a ticket [for the] 11th November [to] come back to Moscow but, you understand, many problems… Interpol and police,” he said.
Mr. Pipko added that the investigator in his employer’s embezzlement case, Oleg Silchenko, is also cause for concern.
“Silchenko, the one [who] is dealing with Polonsky’s case, he was on [the] Magnitsky list,” he said, referring to the case of Russian accountant Sergei Magnitsky, who died in prison from untreated pancreatitis in 2009 after being arrested for accusing police investigators of massive tax fraud.
Following his death, the U.S. Treasury blacklisted 18 “persons responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky,” including Mr. Silchenko, the lead investigator in the accountant’s case and the individual responsible for decisions concerning his medical treatment.
In a letter sent to Interpol’s headquarters in Lyon, France, last week, Mr. Polonsky demanded that the international law enforcement agency remove his name from their database, citing similarities between his case and Sergei Magnitsky’s.
By keeping his name on their wanted list, Mr. Polonsky argued, Interpol was “causing economic loss to me personally” and giving Mr. Silchenko “moral carte blanche to further corrupt practices.”
In 2008, Forbes Magazine estimated Mr. Polonsky’s worth at $1.2 billion, making him one of the richest men in Russia.
Mr. Novikov on Friday declined to say how much money the fallen oligarch had now, but said it was enough for a $20 million initial investment in Polonium.
“[He] has $20 million for investment in Cambodia,” he said.
