The lawyer of Suleyman Kerimov, a member of Russia's upper house of parliament, will appeal the "illegal and baseless" tax evasion complicity charge that France has made against his client, the parliamentarian's assistant, Aleksei Krasovsky, told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"The lawyer will appeal this illegal and baseless charge", Krasovsky said.
He added that Kerimov was currently in the Russian capital and working, not in France.
Earlier in the day, Jean-Michel Pretre, the prosecutor of the French city of Nice, told Sputnik that Kerimov was charged with complicity in tax evasion. READ MORE: Swiss Citizen Allegedly Involved in Russian Lawmaker Kerimov's Case Arrested

"Yesterday, Mr Kerimov was brought before the judicial investigator and charged with offences that we can collectively characterise as complicity in tax evasion with aggravating circumstances", the prosecutor told Sputnik.
The lawmaker was placed under judicial supervision that envisions, in particular, the $22.7 million bail, the official added.

The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry building in Moscow ©
Sputnik / Vladimir Vyatkin
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This not the first tax evasion charge that the Russian lawmaker faces. In November 2017, he was detained in the French city of Nice on charges of money laundering and tax evasion. The prosecution claimed that he had purchased real estate in the French Riviera under fake names in order to launder money and that he had also illegally imported money to France. He was released on 40 million euro ($45 million) bail in December 2017, and in July 2018 he returned to Russia after charges were dropped.Source: sputniknews.com