Sunday Express

‘Send me back to Latvia and I will meet violent end’

Former KGB double agent fights extraditio­n over £2.3m bank fraud

- By Jon Austin CRIME EDITOR

A FORMER double agent who linked Russia to the Salisbury poisoning and the death of Alexander Litvinenko says he will meet a “violent death” if he is sent back to Latvia to face fraud charges.

Boris Karpichkov’s lawyers told UK magistrate­s Kremlin “dark forces” were likely to be behind Latvia’s move to have him extradited.

Latvian-born Mr Karpichkov has said Moscow was responsibl­e for the 2018 Novichok nerve agent attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and the radiation poisoning of defector Mr Litvinenko in London in 2006.

He has also linked Russia to the “spy in the bag” death of

GCHQ agent Gareth Williams in 2010 and outed one of

Latvia’s top judges and a former prime minister as EX-KGB agents.

Latvia says Mr Karpichkov, who was a major in the

KGB and its main successor the FSB, plotted with others to defraud its Olimpija

Bank out of more than £2.3million in

1992 and 1993. Mr

Karpichkov’s lawyers told Westminste­r magistrate­s court the charges were a punishment for refusing to hand Latvian authoritie­s tape recordings which compromise­d a top banker.

The court heard Mr Karpichkov fled to Russia from Latvia in 1997 to escape the charges. But while there he worked secretly for Latvian security services before coming to the UK in 1998. After being given exceptiona­l leave to remain in the UK Mr Karpichkov spent the next decade exposing Russian and Latvian corruption and links to organised crime.

He also named some of the estimated 8,000 EX-KGB collaborat­ors in Latvia as recently as 2018.

Mark Summers QC said Mr

Karpichkov’s life would be in danger and it would be easier for the Kremlin to strike if he was in a Latvian prison.

Giving evidence via video link from the US, former KGB agent Yuri Shvets was asked what would happen if Mr Karpichov was extradited.

Mr Shvets said: “I believe it is much more likely than not that he will meet a violent death. It would be the Russian intelligen­ce community working through agents in Latvia using profession­al criminals to execute the operation.”

Two defendants accused of the bank fraud alongside Mr Karpichov have been assassinat­ed in Latvia, the court heard.

Paul Caldwell, for Latvia, said there was no dispute Mr Karpichkov had been a KGB and FSB agent but he had fabricated the story that his life was in danger.

Mr Caldwell said: “Mr Karpichkov is an astute person who is trained in deception and trained in KGB techniques. He would have been familiar with misreprese­nting facts but in a cogent and persuasive way because that’s what spies do.”

The case was adjourned for judgment.

 ?? Picture: JEFF KRAVITZ/ Filmmagic. com ?? BEES KNEES: Avengers star Scarlett Johansson has an apiary
HONEY LOVE: David posted pictures of him with Harper, eight, Cruz, 15, and Romeo, 17, above. Inset, big bee fan Brad Pitt ‘IN DANGER’: Mr Karpichkov fled to Russia, then the UK
Picture: JEFF KRAVITZ/ Filmmagic. com BEES KNEES: Avengers star Scarlett Johansson has an apiary HONEY LOVE: David posted pictures of him with Harper, eight, Cruz, 15, and Romeo, 17, above. Inset, big bee fan Brad Pitt ‘IN DANGER’: Mr Karpichkov fled to Russia, then the UK
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom