Poland to question Russian ex-prosecutor in gambling scandal

The prosecutor in Poland’s Nowy Sacz town will interrogate on Tuesday a former Russian prosecutor, Alexander Ignatenko, detained in Poland on Russia’s request amidst illegal gambling scandal, a local prosecutor spokesperson said. Ignatenko, first deputy prosecutor of the Moscow Region, was detained in the town of Zakopane in southern Poland on Monday where he had arrived with a Lithuanian passport to meet with his wife and son. “Today Alexander I. will be interrogated by the prosecutor [in Nowy Sacz] and then his case will be sent to the district court in Nowy Sacz. If he is arrested, the Russian side will send us an official request on his extradition,” the spokesperson said. Ignatenko had been put on the international wanted list in November 2011 after Russian investigators established his alleged involvement in covering up an illegal gambling ring outside Moscow, Polish radio station RMF FM said. The Nowy Sacz district court will rule on Ignatenko’s extradition to Russia but the final decision will have to be approved by the Polish justice minister. The scandal around Ignatenko and other senior officials in the Moscow region government broke out in spring of 2011 when police uncovered a network of illegal casinos in 15 towns just outside Moscow. Police said the gambling ring organized by businessman Ivan Nazarov with involvement of the officials had brought them a profit of $5-10 million a month. Ignatenko, Moscow Region prosecutor Alexander Mokhov and several other officials involved have been suspended.