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Post mortem test find Georgian tycoon died of natural causes

14 February 2008 14:18 (UTC +04:00)

But Surrey police said extensive toxological tests will take place after the Georgian tycoonâ€™s death at his home south of London, and could take several weeks.
"Following initial inquiries and the post-mortem carried out last night, Surrey Police can confirm that at this stage there is no indication that the sudden death of Badri Patarkatsishvili was from anything other than natural causes," they said in a statement.
Patarkatsishvili, who had claimed there were plots to assassinate him, died late Tuesday reportedly from heart failure, although he had not been reported to be in poor health.
Police said late Wednesday that they had found no traces of radioactivity after forensics experts spent all day studying the scene at the tycoonâ€™s plush home south of London.
The case has triggered memories of the death by radioactive poisoning of Kremlin opponent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, which plunged diplomatic ties between London and Moscow to a Cold War-type chill.
Patarkatsishvili, 52, accused of fomenting a coup in the ex-Soviet republic, collapsed and died at his plush mansion outside Leatherhead, a leafy suburban commuter town southwest of London, police confirmed
The case was handed to a major crime investigation team because of its high-profile nature, a Surrey Police spokesman said.
The body was removed at the end of Wednesday and taken to the Royal Surrey County Hospital in nearby Guildford, while police said they were attempting to trace Patarkatsishviliâ€™s movements over the past 48 hours.
London has attracted a large number of businessmen from Russia and other ex-Soviet states -- including Litvinenko, and Patarkatsishviliâ€™s former business partner Boris Berezovsky.
Patarkatsishvili had not reported medical problems. His family were told by his London doctor that recent medical tests did not show any signs of heart disease, according to Georgiaâ€™s Mze television.
The flamboyant businessman, instantly recognisable by his big white moustache, was Georgiaâ€™s richest man.
He was a major force behind an opposition movement that took to the streets in the Georgian capital Tbilisi last November, prompting a violent police crackdown.
Pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashviliâ€™s government accused Patarkatsishvili, who lived mostly in Britain and Israel, of attempting to mount a coup.
Patarkatsishvili hit back, claiming that he was the victim of an assassination plot. In a snap presidential poll in January, which saw Saakashvili re-elected, Patarkatsishvili got seven percent of the vote.
Saakashvili sent his condolences to Patarkatsishviliâ€™s family Thursday.
In December, British newspaper The Sunday Times published extracts from a taped conversation said to be between a Georgian government official and a possible hitman, discussing options for making Patarkatsishvili "disappear".
A Georgian of Jewish descent, Patarkatsishvili cut his political teeth as a member of the Soviet-era Komsomol youth organisation, where he met many of his future business contacts.
He made his fortune working with Russian tycoon Berezovsky in Moscow in the early 1990s, when Berezovsky was known as the "grey cardinal of the Kremlin" for his close links with then-president Boris Yeltsin.
He returned to Georgia in 2001, just as Russian prosecutors were pursuing him and other associates of Berezovsky, who had fallen out with Yeltsinâ€™s successor Vladimir Putin. Berezovsky now also in exile in London. /APA/