Property tycoon Christian Candy’s key adviser was a director of a detective agency which made payments to the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko and to the former KGB officer accused of murdering him.
Details of the transfers to alleged killer Andrey Lugovoy and to Litvinenko, who died in 2006 after swallowing a radioactive substance called Polonium-210, were given during a high court trial.
Candy and his brother are defending charges that they used blackmail and intimidation to extort repayment of a loan. The case against the billionaire property developers is being brought by their former business associate, Mark Holyoake.
Steven Smith, a founding director of Christian Candy’s property group, was cross-examined on Thursday about his involvement with the London-based investigations agency RISC Management. He was a director from the firm’s incorporation until 2013.
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He recalled RISC’s dealings with Litvinenko. Smith had arrived at RISC’s offices for a directors’ meeting two days after the Russian had ingested poison while drinking tea at a London hotel. The boardroom had been secured by police because traces of the substance had been left during Litvinenko’s visit.
“The whole of the upper floor was cordoned off with radioactive yellow and black paper everywhere,” said Smith. “So obviously I asked the question: ‘Why is our boardroom radioactive?’ And they told me that Mr Litvinenko ... had visited the office on the day he was poisoned.”
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