MOSCOW, November 6 (RAPSI) – Police in Cambodia’s Sianuk province have not received any orders to detain fugitive Russian real estate tycoon Sergei Polonsky in order to turn him over to the Russian authorities, one of the local attorneys representing the businessman told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, the press secretary for Cambodia’s national police force told reporters that the police would soon arrest Polonsky and turn him over to Russia. His statement was backed by the Cambodian Interpol head Keo Wantkhan who confirmed that the relevant motion had been received from the Russian government.

Polonsky was charged in absentia last July as part of a criminal case involving the embezzlement of over 5.7 billion rubles (over $176 million) from the participants in an up-market cooperative residential construction project in central Moscow.

Over the summer, Polonsky tried to apply for Israeli citizenship during his brief stay there after having been released from Cambodian prison, where he had been placed following an alleged attack on a Cambodian boat crew during New Year celebrations. In August he left Israel "out of fears for his safety"  and returned to his private island in Cambodia.