The head of Russia's Investigative Committee has ordered the agency’s Main Investigative Directorate to take over the investigation into last week's high-profile killing of Aleksandr Petrov, a businessman and local lawmaker in the northwestern Leningrad region.
The Investigative Committee announced Aleksandr Bastrykin’s decision on October 26, saying it would allow a more thorough and objective probe into the "ordered assassination."
Petrov, 61, owned more than 20 businesses in the Vyborg district, close to the Russian-Finnish border.
Nicknamed "the Landlord of Vyborg," he was also a lawmaker with the Vyborg City Council.
The businessman was shot dead from a distance on October 24 while in the yard of his home.
According to media reports, the killing took place two days before Petrov’s scheduled questioning in a high-profile embezzlement case against the Vyborg district Governor Gennady Orlov.
The reports said Petrov had planned to flee Russia and that he had already started to sell his assets in the country.
Russia's Top Investigative Unit Takes Over Probe Into 'Ordered Assassination' Of Businessman
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