Georgian billionaire may have had heart attack

BRITAIN: British investigators will test for poison in the body of Georgian businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili but have no reason yet to conclude he was killed, police said yesterday.

Mr Patarkatsishvili, a 52-year-old billionaire, died suddenly at his palatial mansion in southern England late on Tuesday. He had been accused of plotting a coup in his homeland and had spoken frequently of fears that he may be assassinated.

"A complaint of recent chest pains, together with the manner of his collapse and death, are consistent with symptoms of a death from coronary heart disease, as are the preliminary post-mortem findings," a police spokeswoman said.

"However extensive toxicology tests are still being carried out to establish whether there is any evidence of other factors causing or contributing to his death," she said.

The full poison test results are not expected for at least 10 weeks, although some findings will come sooner, she said.

Mr Patarkatsishvili had lived in Britain since late last year, when Georgian authorities accused him of plotting a coup against the president and issued a warrant for his arrest.

He earned his fortune in Russia as a business partner of businessman Boris Berezovsky in the 1990s, assembling an empire that ran from car dealerships to media to oil.

Mr Berezovsky, an enemy of President Vladimir Putin, also lives in Britain. Another Berezovsky associate, Alexander Litvinenko, was poisoned in London in 2006. It took several weeks for British authorities to discover the radioactive agent that killed him.

British police said on Wednesday that checks had found no radioactive traces on Mr Patarkatsishvili's body or at his home.

Friends of Patarkatsishvili meanwhile travelled to London, saying they intended to bring the body back for burial in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. 

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times