‘Dead’ Ukrainian corruption suspect is arrested, living like a king in this actual French castle
Assets seized from a suspect code-named ‘King of the Castle’ include the 12th century Chateau de La Rochepot, a vintage Rolls-Royce and art by Salvador Dali
French police have arrested an unnamed “high-profile” Ukrainian who allegedly used forged death certificates to evade the authorities and now faces possible extradition to his home country.
Officers have recovered 4.6 million euros (US$5.3 million) of property, including a 12th-century feudal castle, a vintage Rolls-Royce Phantom, jewellery and three works of art by Salvador Dali. The fugitive, identified only as the “King of the Castle” by the European Union’s law-enforcement agency Europol, was detained on October 5 near Dijon, according to a Tuesday statement.
In parallel, the spokeswoman of Ukraine’s prosecutor general said the country will seek to extradite Dmytro Malynovskyi from France.
“The suspect is thought to be behind a complex case of international fraud and money laundering,” Europol said.
French police began investigations in January over alleged suspicious transactions relating to the purchase of the castle for 3 million euros by a company in Luxembourg “whose ultimate beneficial owner was a Ukrainian citizen suspected of corruption at a large scale in his country”, according to the statement.
The ‘resurrected’ citizen forged his death certificate and is now using a forged passport of a foreign country
The man was detained with three accomplices, according to The Hague-based agency, which said it had coordinated with French, Ukrainian and Luxembourg authorities to establish that the suspect who’d used false death certificates “was not only alive, but was enjoying a lavish lifestyle in France”.