Evidence will be withheld from the public inquest into the mysterious death of a Russian businessman after the home secretary warned that it could harm national security.
Alexander Perepilichnyy, 44, died after collapsing while running near his Surrey home in November 2012. His death was originally attributed to natural causes but traces of a chemical from the poisonous plant Gelsemium elegans were later found in his stomach.
The businessman had been helping Swiss prosecutors who were investigating a massive fraud by senior Russian officials against Hermitage Capital, an investment firm run by the British businessman Bill Browder.
Hermitage Capital and Legal and General Assurance, which had provided a “substantial” life insurance policy for Mr Perepilichnyy shortly before his death, believe that the businessman might have been murdered, possibly by agents of the Russian state.
Amber Rudd, the home secretary, signed an order to withhold documents from the inquest, which is due to start in March next year. She told the High Court that their disclosure would create a “real risk” because they contain national security information. The home secretary said the kinds of evidence being withheld could include details of the operations of the security forces, police and intelligence agencies, the identities of spies and details of “foreign liaison sources”.
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Mr Justice Cranston said yesterday that he had “no hesitation” in finding in favour of withholding the documents and ruled that the home secretary was entitled to a public interest immunity certificate. The judge said that the position of Richard Travers, senior coroner for Surrey, who was due to head the inquest, was untenable because he did not have the necessary security clearance to see the secret documents.
He said that the chief coroner would have to arrange a replacement who can see the documents and who would have to consider whether a public inquiry is needed.
The court heard that a police investigation found no evidence that Mr Perepilichnyy was in hiding or expressed concerns for his safety but did discover that he had a “complex private life involving international travel”.
Surrey police said that no evidence of toxins that could have caused his death had been discovered and that there was no sign of injuries, wounds or puncture marks on his body.
The secrecy ruling means that all members of the public and members of Mr Perepilichnyy’s family, or family lawyers without the necessary security clearance, will be denied access to many documents.
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A pre-inquest hearing was told that before his death Mr Perepilichnyy was helping Hermitage uncover a $230 million (£150 million) Russian money-laundering operation.
That hearing was told he could have been the victim of a “reprisal killing” linked to the death of Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with radioactive polonium in London in 2006.
An inquiry found that President Putin probably sanctioned the assassination of Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB agent.
Hermitage’s lawyer, Henrietta Hill, QC, said Mr Perepilichnyy had been on an underworld “hit list” and had received death threats. She said there was a “clear parallel” between his death and that of Sergei Magnitsky, who also worked for Hermitage and died in a Moscow prison in 2009.