NICOSIA, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S.-born British businessman William Browder has appealed a Cypriot court's decision allowing Cypriot authorities to cooperate with Russian investigators in probing his financial activities in the eastern Mediterranean island, in a case with widespread international ramifications, his lawyer said on Monday.
Russia requested Cypriot authorities to provide judicial assistance and help its investigators probe Browder's financial activities as part of an investigation against him for tax fraud.
Browder, founder of Hermitage Capital Management, had tried to block the investigation by initially obtaining last September an interim court order barring Cypriot authorities from cooperating with Russia -- a move that destabilized Cypriot-Russian relations.
However, the same court reversed the interim order and dismissed Browder's request to permanently block Cyprus from cooperating with Russia in its investigation against him.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court decided on Aug. 3 to allow Cypriot authorities to assist Russia on the grounds that probable violations of Browder's human rights would not be irreparable and that the state could subsequently compensate both Brower and his associate Ivan Cherkasov, who is also being investigated.
Lawyer Christos Pourgourides, in announcing the appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision, called on Cypriot Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou to take into consideration that in its Aug. 3 ruling the court did accept Browder's argument that the investigations against him and Cherkasov were politically motivated.
He said that helping Russia against Browder could prove costly for Cyprus.
Cyprus is at the receiving end of pressure from both Russia and the United States.
Russia has leverage on Cyprus as it has evolved into a base for many Russian-owned companies. Russia is a major customer for the Cypriot corporate and legal services providers and the second largest source of tourism.
On the other hand, the United States has been trying to contain Russian influence on Cyprus, and also pressures Cyprus to observe sanctions imposed on influential Russian individuals and companies.
According to Russian news agency Sputnik, Russia had in 2013 sentenced Browder in absentia to nine years in prison for tax evasion and falsely claiming tax breaks for hiring disabled persons.
The court also ruled that Sergei Magnitsky, a tax and legal consultant for Hermitage Capital Management, who died in pretrial detention in Moscow in 2010, developed and implemented a tax evasion scheme while working for the businessman.
Browder refuted the accusations, saying that he became a victim of a corruption scheme himself, according to Sputnik.
In February 2017, a Moscow court ruled to arrest Browder and his business partner Ivan Cherkasov, both charged with 4.2 billion rubles (62.5 million U.S. dollars) in unpaid taxes, in absentia. The United Kingdom, where they two have resided, has denied requests to have them extradited to Russia.
