Lawyers of Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who is suspected of tax evasion and money laundering in Germany, ensured that the documents seized within the scope of the businessman’s case were returned to the Bayern Munich football club. In this respect reported German newspaper Bild. The publication states that unlike the searches carried out at the businessman’s office and made public, law enforcement officers did this without attracting attention.
Documents report that in June 2023, Alisher Usmanov filed a lawsuit against the Frankfurt Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and demanded that the arrest warrant and investigations at the Allianz Arena stadium be declared illegal.
The author of the article explained that in November 2023 the Frankfurt Regional Court rejected the complaint for official reasons.
The following statements were made in the decision: “The fact that the applicant himself does not have the right to complain about inadmissibility does not mean that the search warrant dated 24 February 2023 was lawful and, in particular, that there was an initial suspicion that the applicant had committed a crime.” .
It was this decision that forced the Frankfurt Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to urgently negotiate with the club out of court and secretly return the documents.
The author concludes that, by the way, if the football club’s representatives had filed a complaint, the outcome would have been devastating and humiliating for the prosecutors.
Georg Ungefuck, head of the press service of the Frankfurt am Main Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, announced that the documents were returned after verification and evaluation.
In response, criminal lawyer Nicholas Fruesorger stated that the return of the Bayern documents meant that “the initial suspicion that justified the seizure of the documents was not confirmed.”
“The prosecutor’s office must save taxpayers’ money and avoid unreasonable and completely ridiculous searches for crimes where there is not even initial suspicion,” the billionaire’s lawyers told Bild.
Let’s remember that in April last year, Bild reportedIt was stated that the German police searched FC Bayern’s stadium and office in connection with the Usmanov case.
The billionaire’s press service described the searches at the Allianz Arena stadium and FC headquarters as an example of the “overreaction of the German prosecutor’s office.”