Alexander Perepilichnyy, 44, died after collapsing near his home in Surrey on 10th November 2012 following a lunch with his wife that day. Peter Skelton QC, Robert Wastell and Leanne Woods are instructed by the coroner as counsel for the inquest into Mr Perepilichnyy’s death.
The inquest opened in 2014 and there have been a number of pre inquest reviews in this complex case in which the family, Surrey Police, Legal and General and Hermitage Capital Management are Interested Persons.
Perepilichnyy, 44, died after collapsing near his home in Surrey on 10th November 2012 following a lunch with his wife that day. Richard Travers, Coroner for the County of Surrey, stepped down as coroner after a High Court order upheld a government application to prevent the disclosure of secret documents to him. He was succeeded by the Recorder of London, His Honour Nicholas Hilliard QC.
Mr Perepilichnyy was reportedly helping Hermitage Capital Management to identify the perpetrators of an alleged $230 million Russian fraud. Although the businessman’s death was originally attributed to natural causes, the latest pre inquest review heard claims that he may have been poisoned and that traces of a chemical that can be found in the poisonous plant Gelsemium (“heartbreak grass”) may have been found in his stomach contents.
The full inquest is scheduled for three weeks in June at the Old Bailey.
