FBI Declines To Comment On Russian Businessman Prigozhin's Request

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2021) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Wednesday declined to comment on Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin's request to remove the offer for reward that the agency had announced for information leading to his arrest.

"The FBI declines to comment," a Bureau's spokesperson told Sputnik.

In late February, the FBI published a search notice for Russian citizens, including Prigozhin, whom the US government accused of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. The FBI also offered a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to Prigozhin's arrest.

On Monday, Prigozhin filed a report to the Russian Investigative Committee on being persecuted by the FBI.

Prigozhin also sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray accusing the US law enforcement agency of trying to fraudulently accuse him in a bid to capture him.

"It is obvious that the FBI distorts the facts and uses fraudulent schemes. It is a funny situation. Fraudsters are fraudulently trying to accuse me, a crystal clear person, of fraud. But they do it so awkwardly that 'a guilty mind betrays itself,'" Prigozhin said, as cited by the press service for his company, Concord, on Wednesday.

According to Prigozhin's letter, the FBI is offering a monetary reward for information about him out of despair given that Interpol last year officially recognized the charges against him as politically motivated rather than criminal.