"A number of suspects have been arrested in the course of an investigation into the murder of First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia Andrei Kozlov, and we could say that the criminal case has been solved," Yury Chaika said.
Kozlov, 41, who oversaw bank licensing and led efforts to close down dozens of banks for violations of banking legislation, particularly on money laundering, died September 14 after being shot the day before along with his driver.
Earlier in October some Russian media sources reported that three people suspected of killing the Central Bank official had been detained. It was also reported that the suspects were detained after law enforcement officers checked a billing list of all calls made from cell phones near the crime scene at the time of the murder.
But in response, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office said it launched criminal proceedings over the leaking of state secrets in the investigation of the Kozlov murder.
The top Russian prosecution body claimed that starting October 10, some media sources began publishing materials on the course of the probe into Kozlov's murder, which were considered to be state secrets and should be available only to people involved in the investigation.
In mid-October First Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Buksman said the investigation had identified those responsible for the crime and the motive behind the murder. But he refrained from giving any further information or specifying the reason for the killing.
