(dpa) - Police in the Baltic nation of Latvia have detained another man in the case of the mysterious disappearance of a Russian- born US tycoon Leonid Rozhetskin, the police chief told local media Thursday.
The detained man is a Latvian resident, the head of State Police Aldis Lieljuksis told Latvian national radio. However, he declined to offer details.
A Kremlin critic, Rozhetskin disappeared on March 16 from his summer home in a resort town of Jurmala, outside the Latvian capital Riga.
Police found bloodstains and broken furniture in his home. They have located Rozhetskin's car as well as his private plane. They also arrested the Jurmala property manager under suspicion of aiding a kidnapping.
The Latvian authorities assume his disappearance is connected with his business dealings.
Asked whether the US-educated tycoon has been murdered, Lieljuksis said: "Until the body is found, I cannot claim that."
Rozhetskin's relatives are to arrive in Latvia soon in connection with the investigation, he said, adding that the case deals with "large sums of money and various countries."
In 2006, Russian prosecutors placed the 41-year-old Rozhetskin on an international search list for an alleged fraud involving 40 million dollars. However, he was taken off the list several months ago, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant.
Recently, Rozhetskin moved into the media industry, setting up a free business newspaper in London, City AM, and co-founding a Los Angeles-based feature film production company, L+E Productions, which was set to make a film about the Russian mafia.
From 2001 to 2005, Rozhetskin was vice president of Russian Norilsk Nickel metalworks, Russia's largest mining company and the world's largest miner of nickel and palladium, and his investment company LV Finance used to own a quarter of Russia's third largest mobile phone operator MegaFon.
The Russian prosecutor's office believes that through a complicated financial transaction, Rozhetskin stole a large sum of money from financial fund Ipoc, which was meant for the purchase of shares of the mobile operator.
Born in Russia in 1966, Rozhetskin emigrated with his family to the United States in 1980, according to his website. He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School.
One year after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he returned to Russia to set up a legal firm, and later moved into the finance sector, founding an investment bank and a venture capital firm.
From 1992 to 1994, he worked as an attorney in the US.