Russian investigators have brought attempted bribery charges against former director of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Yelena Kotova, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.
"A probe was completed yesterday, and we launched a criminal case against Kotova on charges of attempted bribery," said Alexander Matveyev, deputy head of the Investigation Committee under the Interior Ministry.
The official said Kotova was in Moscow, but an arrest had not been made yet.
He added that no other Russian officials at EBRD were currently under investigation.
The London-based EBRD lifted diplomatic immunity for Kotova and three other officials appointed by Russia's Economic Development Ministry in January to facilitate an investigation by Russian and British authorities.
The move came after an EBRD inquiry found that Kotova and three of her deputies had breached the bank's behavior code.
On Tuesday, the EBRD announced that it had agreed to a request from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office to lift the immunity of a fifth member of the delegation assigned to the EBRD by the Russian government.
"The delegation member is not an EBRD employee but was working at the EBRD as a junior representative of the Russian government," the bank said in a statement.
Kotova served on the EBRD board of directors for five years until she was dismissed by Russia's Economic Development Ministry in December last year.
She is the first board member to lose diplomatic immunity since the bank was founded in 1991.
The EBRD uses the tools of investment to help build market economies and democracies in 29 countries from central Europe to central Asia. The bank invested 9 billion euros in the region last year, including 2.3 billion euros in Russia.
MOSCOW, February 3 (RIA Novosti)
