Russian banker shot six times had testified over murder plot

He is believed to have suggested that former business associates of his were
involved in the attempt to murder Mr Antonov.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said that Mr Gorbuntsov remains in a London
hospital in a critical but stable condition.

Detectives from the Trident team, which investigates gun crime, say they are
hunting a suspect who was seen running from the scene.

The man is white, 6ft, slim build and was wearing dark clothing. The shooting
happened at 7.30pm on Byng Street, east London.

Witnesses described scene of panic as paramedics battled to save the shot
man’s life after the incident.

Emma Key, 30, a sales manager from Norfolk, was in London on business and
staying in an apartment that overlooked the scene.

She said a group were about to go to dinner and left the complex two minutes
after he had been shot. Police and paramedics arrived on the scene within
minutes.

“We could see them working on him in the road for several minutes,”
she told The Daily Telegraph.

“If was unconscious. They then put him in the ambulance but did not leave
straight away as they were still trying to stablilise him.

“Then a woman, who we found out later was his wife, arrived and she was
very upset . She was trying to get into the ambulance but the police were
pushing her away.”

She added: “We were all in shock. It was something from a movie. It
didn’t seem real. We just figured it was gang or drug related. We had no
idea who he was.”

Mr Gorbuntsov, 45, is the former owner of a series of banks in Russia and
Moldova, who has controlled Moscow’s Spartak hockey club.

He claims to have lost up to $1billion to financial “raiders” in a series of
complex financial disputes. He is said to have fled to London about a year
ago after a dispute with former business associates.

Mr Gorbuntsov had fallen out with Mr Antonov, a co-owner of the Russian
finance company Konvers-Grupp, two years before that attack claiming he was
owed a debt of $106million.

However, Mr Gorbuntsov was cleared of involvement in the shooting and has now
named business associates as potential suspects.

Mr Gorbuntsov’s lawyer, Vadim Vedenin, said that his client had been in
negotiations with Russian prosecutors about giving evidence to back up his
claims, and that could have triggered the attack.

Mr Vedenin said that Mr Gorbuntsov had feared reprisals. “That’s why he left
to live in London for a while,” Mr Vedenin added. “He said, ‘They’ll kill me
if I return to Moscow’.”

Mr Antonov said he had good relations with Mr Gorbuntsov. “I never suspected
him in the attack on me. He was often in London and he moved there about a
year ago,” he said.

“He does business internationally; I don’t know the details. He’s a very good,
effective developer, he’s good in finance. He’s a self-sufficient
businessman.”

He added: “As far as I know, he was leading a happy life, he has a family and
he recently had a child. I understand he was hit with six bullets.

“He lost a lot of blood and has been put in an induced coma in hospital.
He has been operated on. He’s still in a critical state but we hope he’ll
survive.”

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