Snoras owner Raimondas Baranauskas fighting extradition as he doesn’t expect fair trial in Lithuania

"He does not expect a fair trial in Lithuania. And who wants to stand trial here following such statements and comments?" Dobilas said in an interview to the Lietuvos Rytas daily when asked why Baranauskas is fighting extradition.

"He refused to be extradited to Lithuania. It's just a defense measure that cannot be seen as a violation of the Penal Code," the lawyers said.

Lithuanian prosecutors doubled claims for ex-Snoras owners Vladimir Antonov and Baranauskas in May. The businessman are alleged to have stolen around LTL 1.7 billion, with prosecutors adding this amount will not change any more.

Already a third European arrest warrant was issued for Antonov and Baranauskas in May.

At the request of Snoras' bankruptcy administrator, a UK court has granted an injunction freezing up to EUR 492 million worth of Antonov's assets.

Last November, the Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office opened a pre-trial investigation into alleged false accounting, document forgery, abuse, embezzlement, and money laundering at Snoras.

Shortly afterwards, suspicions of large-scale embezzlement and document forgery were brought against Antonov and Raimondas Baranauskas, Snoras' former president and shareholder. Baranauskas is also suspected of fraudulent bookkeeping and abuse of official position. Both suspects are now in London.

Their extradition case was opened in London in late November 2011 after Lithuania's authorities issued a European arrest warrant.

The Westminster Magistrate's Court in London decided in mid-May to postpone the hearing of the case until July.