Doctors will try to bring former Russian banker German Gorbuntsov, who is in a critical condition after being shot last Friday in the business area of London’s East End, out of an artificially-induced coma in the next 24 hours, Sky News channel reported on Tuesday, citing Gorbuntsov’s lawyer.
Gorbuntsov, the former owner of several banks in Russia and Moldova, who was living in London, was approaching his house on the Isle of Dogs when the attacker opened fire on him, police said.
The gunman fled the scene before police arrived. Gorbuntsov was seriously injured and taken to hospital, where he was placed in a medically-induced coma.
Police found a pistol with a silencer in a bush close to the scene, The Sun reported on Tuesday.
Gorbuntsov’s lawyer, Vadim Vedenin, says he thinks the attack may be linked to his client’s role in a 2009 investigation into a murder attempt on another Russian banker, Alexander Antonov. Three ethnic Chechens were charged with the attempted murder in Russia in 2010, but the organizers remain unidentified and the case was closed until this year.
It was reopened on March 2 after Gorbuntsov, who himself had been investigated over the killing, submitted a new testimony to police, which they believe suggested the involvement of Gorbuntsov's former business partners, Pyotr Chuvilin and Sergei Mendeleyev, Vedenin said.
Gorbuntsov is also wanted in Moldova, on several charges, including an illegal bank takeover and embezzlement.
