MOSCOW, September 19 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow City Court upheld on Wednesday the freezing of 17 million rubles ($670,000) belonging to a former banker Alexei Frenkel, a suspect in the murder of a top banking regulator.
Prosecutors arrested Frenkel in January, as the chief suspect in the September 2006 murder of Andrei Kozlov, first deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia.
Kozlov, described as a vigorous campaigner against corruption and money laundering in Russia's banking sector, had closed down Frenkel's VIP-bank three months before the killing.
Earlier this month the Basmanny Court arrested Frenkel's funds on accounts, and also cash confiscated during a search of his apartment.
Frenkel, 36, appealed the court's ruling to the Moscow City Court, demanding the fund arrest had been considered in his absence and some of the money did not even belong to him.
The lawyer, Lyudmila Aivar, said that the money had been arrested most likely "to provide for possible future lawsuits from the victims."
Aivar added that currently the banker has been left without any financial resources.
"He can't receive any delivery as he has no profit," she said adding that Frenkel is set to appeal the decision in court.
Kozlov, 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, 2006, after being shot the day before along with his driver.
Besides Frenkel, six people, including businesswoman Liana Askerova, charged with being an accomplice, are defendants in the Kozlov murder case. They are all in custody.
