Fifth Russian delegate questioned in EBRD probe

British police questioned a fifth member of a Russian delegation sent to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) after the bank lifted immunity from the worker.

A statement issued by the bank on Wednesday said the delegation member was “not an EBRD employee but was working at the EBRD as a junior representative of the Russian government.”

Russia and Britain launched a criminal probe into four employees last month after the EBRD lifted the officials’ immunity, which the bank had granted as an international organisation.

“The EBRD had already conducted its own investigation and the results have been shared with the UK and Russian authorities,” Wednesday’s statement continued.

“The matter is now in the hands of the UK police and the Russian authorities. The EBRD continues to work closely with them both,” it added.

The four include the EBRD’s official Russian board member, Yelena Kotova, who was dismissed from her position in December, the Russian economic development ministry said.

Kotova served as the EBRD’s Russia department director since 2005 and was reinstated for her second term in 2008.