A Highland-based Russian who fled to Scotland after being accused of a £7.5million fraud is fighting extradition.
A hearing has begun at Edinburgh Sheriff Court into the case of Alexander Shapovalov, 57, a former director general of the Scientific Centre of Applied Chemistry in St Petersburg.
The Russian Government has sought his extradition, but Mr Shapovalov is seeking political asylum.
Now living in Ballachuilish House in Lochaber with his partner and two children, he fled to Scotland in 2016 after being accused of fraud.
He was later found guilty in his absence and says he could face up to 10 years in prison if extradited.
Mr Shapovalov told Sheriff Nigel Ross that when he was appointed as director general in 2009 he found the centre in “very bad shape”.
He explained there were 25,000 engineers and scientists on the vast complex and sometimes salaries were 10 weeks in arrears, and claimed nuclear waste dating back to the 50s was leaking into a river and the Baltic Sea.
He said: “Everyone was afraid, especially in the summer.”
Mr Shapovlov said he sold the centre’s HQ in the centre of St Petersburg to enable new premises to be built, adding: “My aim was to make us great again, to increase income, because basically no-one was looking for our produce anymore.”
He told the court he found out an assistant director was using his own company to buy properties and that others at the centre were close friends of President Putin.
Mr Shapovlov said he threatened to reject contracts from the ministry of science and the ministry of state fraud and was then arrested.
He claimed he was confined to his home for 24 hours a day for a year before being allowed out for two hours a day while tagged.
He said he had received inside information that “everything was decided by Putin himself” and he then decided to leave the country.
Asked what would happen if he was returned to Russia, he replied: “I would be killed”.
The hearing continues.
