Further scrutiny for Borodin fraud

Borodin, left, pictured on his arrival in Switzerland on Wednesday

GENEVA, Switzerland -- Former Kremlin aide Pavel Borodin is facing further questioning in a Swiss courtroom over charges of money laundering.

Borodin and his team flew into Geneva for a closed-door hearing with investigating judge Daniel Devaud on Thursday.

The ex-property manager in former President Boris Yeltsin's administration has been embroiled in an international legal battle centred on allegations of money-laundering and accepting bribes.

Dominique Poncet, who heads the defence team, told Reuters "Mr Borodin has done nothing wrong and has nothing to answer for."

Robert Assael, another lawyer from the Borodin team, confirmed that his client would "use his constitutional right to maintain silence."

Borodin himself declined to comment.

Borodin was indicted in April on charges of laundering $25 million in kickbacks from Kremlin renovation contracts awarded to two Swiss-based construction firms, Mabetex and Mercata.

He had been in charge of a $300 billion to $600 billion Kremlin property empire and is accused of using Swiss and offshore banks to launder the cash.

Both Borodin and the two companies deny the charges.

Devaud summoned Borodin and four other suspects indicted last year to Thursday's hearing.

The other three suspects at the hearing are Behgjet Pacolli, the Kosovo-born chief executive of Mabetex, two Geneva asset managers and a Geneva lawyer, Reuters news agency reported. Borodin's release from a Geneva jail on April 12 cost the Russian administration 5 million Swiss francs ($2.87 million) cash in a bail payment.

He was initially arrested in January in New York on a Swiss international warrant and was extradited to Switzerland in April after three months in foreign jails. Russia dropped its own inquiry into Borodin last year.