Former Russian banker accuses Central Bank of corruption

The man charged with ordering the killing of a top Russian banker, has accused Russia's Central Bank of corruption. Aleksey Frenkel has claimed his bank's license was cancelled because it refused to cash money for Central Bank officials.

Aleksey Frenkel is accused of organising the murder of the Central Bank's Deputy Head. From behind bars Frenkel continues to maintain his innocence and fight to prove it. He wrote a letter accusing the Central Bank itself of corruption. The letter is by no means spontaneous.

By his own admissions, supported by those close to the former banker, Frenkel had been working on the paper for some time.

“He had written it a long time ago, He even came to me for help – and I edited some parts, but there was still a lot of work to be done. I’m not a politician, so I advised him to stick to the facts and figures, and leave political speculation out of it. But I agree with about 80 or 90 % of what it says,” claimed Aleksey Mamontov from Moscow Currency Association.

But since his arrest, Mr Frenkel decided to make his thoughts public. After a meeting with his father, he asked for the paper to be sent to the media. Aleskey Frenkel's letter was sent to many editors. But it was only “Kommersant” newspaper that chose to publish it on its website and even then, they did not publish the full version. The letter has drawn even more attention to a case that has had huge public resonance from the very beginning.

Andrey Kozlov was gunned down outside a football stadium in Moscow on September 13th last year. By December, five men had been arrested – and shortly afterwards, a middle-woman who allegedly led prosecutors to Frenkel. Liana Askerova was detained in January and charged with being an accessory to murder.