(Refiling story published on Sept. 25 to fix link to Reuters TV
interview)
* Media magnate fears criminal charges, prison
* Lebedev says Putin wrongly thinks he funds opposition
* Lebedev has been unable to sell Russian assets
MOSCOW, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Banker and media magnate
Alexander Lebedev said on Tuesday he fears he will soon face
criminal charges and jail because he thinks Russian President
Vladimir Putin mistakenly believes the tycoon is funding his
opponents.
The 52-year-old backer of the British newspapers The
Independent and London's Evening Standard, whose net worth was
put at $1.1 billion by Forbes magazine in March, is rare among
the so-called Russian oligarchs in openly criticising the
Kremlin, but he denied any involvement in opposition politics.
"I know the position of the president," he asserted at the
Reuters Russia Investment Summit, despite the Kremlin's repeated
denials that it was pressuring Lebedev or other wealthy Russians
over business interests.
"He thinks it is true that I have been funding (the
opposition), so I was violating rule No. 1 - if you have money
you should not interfere (in politics)."
Prosecutors opened an investigation last year into Lebedev
for throwing a punch at property developer Sergei Polonsky,
himself a one-time billionaire, while they were on a primetime
television talk show.
Lebedev thinks he could be charged with "hooliganism" for
that incident, an offence that can carry a 7-year jail term. He
thinks the investigation has been politically motivated because
he has a stake in the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
The paper, also owned by former Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev, has criticised the Kremlin, exposed corruption in
Russia and four of its journalists have been killed between 2001
and 2009.
Most wealthy Russian businessmen have avoided criticising
the Kremlin since the arrest in 2003 of former oil tycoon
Mikhail Khodorkovsky after he defied Putin by taking an interest
in opposition politics. He is still in prison.
Asked if he thought he would be jailed, Lebedev said: "I
don't see any reason for anybody fabricating a case like that
unless they want to put you into prison."
A former KGB spy, Lebedev said on Tuesday that efforts to
sell his business assets in Russia have so far failed because
investors had been scared off by a Kremlin "smear campaign",
which threatened him with heavy losses.
Lebedev's National Reserve Bank was searched by security
service agents in February, and Lebedev on Tuesday frequently
made references to being under surveillance.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied putting pressure on
Lebedev or other wealthy Russians over business interests, and
has said that it does not comment on legal cases.
Describing the Polonsky case as a pretext to punish him,
Lebedev said he had started trying to sell his assets in Russia,
which include a potato farming business and a stake in the
airline Aeroflot.
He said no one was interested in buying the assets for fear
of upsetting Putin, whose support is widely seen as vital for
all big business deals in Russia.
"They treat me as a politician and a dissident, and I'm
still doing business", he said. "I wish I could be not a
businessman anymore, but how do I do that? It is new even for
me. I never thought things were controlled so tightly."
Lebedev said the judiciary system had "nothing to do with
justice," citing the 2-year jail sentences handed down to three
members of the Pussy Riot punk band after they protested in a
Russian Orthodox cathedral against Putin.
Lebedev considers himself a victim of increasingly
aggressive tactics to silence Kremlin critics since Putin
returned to the presidency for a 6-year term in May.
(Writing by Timothy Heritage; Editing by Richard Chang)
