Authorities have identified the suspect behind the parcel bombing that seriously injured a Ukrainian-origin oligarch and two others, Monaco’s prosecutor general said.
Public prosecutor, Stephane Thibault, did not reveal any detail about the individual but said an international arrest warrant is being issued to arrest the suspect.
“The suspect will be the subject of an Interpol Red Notice from this evening,” the prosecutor’s office said.
France’s Le Figaro daily, however, claimed in an exclusive report that the suspect, who was captured on CCTV wearing a black fisherman’s hat, is believed to be a Ukrainian woman in her thirties who tried to pass off as a man. The woman is registered as living in Germany, according to the paper.
A press briefing will be held shortly before noon on Friday, the public prosecutor said.
Monaco authorities have not confirmed the identities of the victims but local media reports have widely reported that 58-year-old Vadym Iermolaiev, a wealthy businessman originally from Ukraine and now a Cypriot national, a woman, and a 13-year-old child were injured in a targeted attack. A bomb parcel placed in the lobby of a luxury building on the Rue Révérend-Père-Louis-Frolla exploded as soon as the oligarch tried to leave.
The Ukrainian businessman is reportedly out of danger but the woman remains in critical condition with both her legs amputated.
The suspect, who was caught on CCTV footage, was seen running from the scene in a black jacket, black bucket hat, white shoes and beige trousers. The suspect ran in the direction of the neighbouring French town of Beausoleil, sparking an international manhunt.
Mr Thibault praised Monaco’s police forces and “effective international criminal cooperation, both police and judicial”, which made it possible “to identify, in a particularly short time, the person suspected of having carried out the attack”.
The report said the suspect remotely triggered the booby-trapped bag, “using an object that resembles a remote control” when the family came near the bag placed in the lobby.
Three investigative judges have been entrusted to lead a judicial investigation for attempted murder and several other charges.
Mr Iermolaiev, who was born and raised in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017 and is now solely a Cypriot citizen. The real estate developer, 58, is a controversial figure in Ukraine and was sanctioned by Kyiv for alleged collaboration with Russia, accusations he has fiercely denied.
Ukraine’s SBU security agency said he had been trading alcohol in Russian-occupied Crimea and had paid millions in taxes to the Russian treasury, leading his assets to be frozen.
He is chairman of Alef, which owns 13 companies operating in agribusiness, development, and the production of construction materials.
Iermolaiev has regularly featured in Focus magazine’s annual list of Ukraine’s Top 100 Richest People, with a net worth believed to be in the hundreds of millions of US dollars.
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