MOSCOW, July 21 (RAPSI) – The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has dismissed without prejudice a petition filed by the ex-head of the Far Eastern Center of Shipbuilding Igor Borbot, charged in several criminal cases in Russia, seeking a writ of habeas corpus over the denial of U.S. immigration authorities to release him on bond, copies of court documents at RAPSI disposal read.

Borbot, a Russian citizen who entered the United States in September 2014, was arrested by immigration officials in April 2016 and entered into removal proceedings because of overstaying his visa. It was chosen to detain Borbot because he was subject to an Interpol Red Notice as he was wanted in Russia on criminal fraud charges.

After examining the petition, the court ruled to dismiss it saying it lacked jurisdiction to review the denial of bond by the immigration court and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

The New Jersey court also found ungrounded Borbot’s claims that the immigration courts abused their discretion by placing the burden of proof on him to show that he was not dangerous because of him being on the Interpol wanted list, which he contended was error.

The court disagreed further with Borbot’s assertions that his detention had become overlong, and that he should therefore be entitled to a bond hearing where the Government bears the burden of proof, and found that his continued detention did not deny him due process.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office seeks deportation of Borbot, who is involved in several criminal cases launched in Russia over the embezzlement of more than 4 billion rubles (about $68 million at the current exchange rate) during the construction of the “Star” shipbuilding complex. Borbot and some of his former colleagues left the country and were put on the international wanted list with Borbot himself being sought by the Interpol.

In November 2016, Borbot filed a lawsuit against several top Russian officials, including Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade in Russia.  Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Rostec Corporation, and Andrey Shishkin, Vice-President for Energy, Localization and Innovation for Rosneft, were named as co-defendants, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by RAPSI.

Borbot alleged that his prosecution in Russia and arrest in the US were a result of his refusal at one time to hand over to the defendants his assets, in particular his share in the Vladivostok Development Company (VDC) he founded in 1994, which invested in a number of profitable projects and was worth $350 million.