The Russian Federation public prosecution authorities report Russia and Italy actually don’t have any bilateral agreement on extraditing people suspected of criminal offenses. Russian authorities sent their request to extradite Bank24.ru’s former BOD member Alexei Kalinichenko on the basis of the 1957 European Convention (the convention was ratified and came into force in Italy in 1963).

‘Alexei Kalinichenko was detained in Italy on June 4, 2007, and on July 3, 2008, the General Prosecutor’s Office’s Administration for International Legal Cooperation sent their query to the Italian authorities. The Administration is now making every effort allowed within the framework of Russia’s international treaties,’ says Maxim Filotenkov, the General Prosecutor’s Office’s Director for Communicating with Electronic Media.

Alexei Kalinichenko, who is believed to have masterminded a financial pyramid and to have thus stolen over 1 billion RUR, is to face criminal prosecution with a charge in large-scale fraud (Article 159 (part 4) of Russian Criminal Code).

‘It will probably take the Italian authorities between three and eighteen months to make a decision on whether the offender should be extradited. It’s hard to say at the moment how soon this may happen,’ Maxim Filotenkov notes.