Banker Andrei Borodin flees Vladimir Putin's Russia for Britain Andrei Borodin bought thte Park Palace Estate after fleeing Russia (Alamy) But the banker told The Daily Telegraph that the accusation was fabricated after he resisted a state takeover of his bank. "The president of Russia at the time, Dmitry Medvedev, was behind this," said Mr Borodin. We revealed that we believe all the investigations conducted in Russia are politically motivated as a weapon of the Russian authorities to persecute me and my colleagues. As a result, Mr Borodin said that he was forced to sell his stake in the bank - which was eventually taken over by the state. "I believe they were scared the Bank of Moscow might support former mayor Luzhkov, should he decide to go into Russian politics after his dismissal," he added. He said that "some people" also "wanted to make a nice profit" from the takeover. Asked if he thought that Vladimir Putin, now president, had also played a role in his fate, Mr Borodin replied: "Nothing important in Russia can be done without the knowledge of the number one in the country. Mr Putin built a system of autocracy, corruption and unprofessionalism in Russia and now he is a hostage to this system. And what happened to me is the result of the functioning of this system, whose father is Putin. Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev (AFP) The Home Office said that it would not comment on an individual case, but a Whitehall source declined to deny that Mr Borodin had been given asylum. Russia requested his extradition from Britain last year and the decision has infuriated the Kremlin. Natalya Timakova, a spokesman for Mr Medvedev, said: "The practice of receiving political asylum, especially in England, has got to the point that it doesn't matter what the applicant did. We can only regret that this simple ruse worked again in the United Kingdom. Britain's willingness to grant refuge to highly controversial figures has been a persistent thorn in Anglo-Russian relations. In particular, the Kremlin was incensed that Boris Berezovsky, a fugitive oligarch, and Akhmed Zakayev, a Chechen rebel envoy, were both given asylum in London. Mr Luzhkov, the former mayor, told a Moscow radio station that he was convinced of Mr Borodin's innocence. "If Borodin was granted political asylum in England, then the English did that having enough basis to make such a decision," he said. Alexander Lebedev doesn't agree with Britain's move (Reuters) However, Alexander Lebedev, the billionaire Russian businessman who owns the Evening Standard and the Independent, said Britain's move was "just not right," adding: "The Home Office needs to explain in some public forum why it considers a person who was never involved in politics is some kind of political dissident. We're talking about the boss of a huge bank where a vast sum of money went missing. Any "real dissidents" had "nothing to do with big money." Mr Lebedev, who lost an election against Mr Luzhkov for mayor of Moscow in 2003, added: "The Kremlin has nothing to do with this. I don't believe that President Medvedev took away Borodin's business and persecuted him as some kind of politician, because he's not a politician. Mr Borodin declined to respond to Mr Lebedev's comments. "I'm not really interested in the opinion of this gentleman," he said.