A wealthy Russian businessman who died in Britain more than two years ago may have been poisoned using extracts from a deadly plant, a pre-inquest hearing has been told.
Aleksandr Perepilichny, 44, collapsed and died while jogging near his home in Surrey, south of London, on November 10, 2012.
Police investigated his death but decided it was not suspicious.
However, a pre-inquest hearing on May 18 heard that new tests found traces of a chemical in Perepilichny’s stomach that could only be derived from the highly toxic gelsemium plant.
Further tests are to be carried out to establish if the poison was in his body.
Perepilichny had been assisting Swiss prosecutors in a $240 million money-laundering case involving Russian officials and mafia members.
He had also provided evidence against those linked to the 2009 death of a whistle-blowing Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky.
