A Russian exile battling a sanctioned oligarch and close ally of Putin in the UK's High Court has been sent over a dozen messages warning of an "order to kill him with poison or a freak fall", the Mirror can disclose.
Police are investigating the threats against Igor Sychev, 48, who worked as Head of Taxation for Andrey Guryev's chemical holding company, PhosAgro, for nearly two decades.
He fell out with the firm over a one per cent stake in the company - around $50million at the time - of which he claims he only received £5million.
Sychev alleges the payments were "secretly" formalised as loans under English law, and that the defendants refused to pay him the remaining $45million, while also demanding the return of the $5million with interest.
Since launching his court case and taking political asylum in Latvia, Sychev says he has been the subject of several assassination attempts and numerous death threats, including emails sent over the past two months.
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One of the messages, seen by the Mirror, reads: "I wish to bring your attention to the below: Order to kill you. By poison to make it look like suicide, or a freak fall to make it look like an accident."
Another, sent on May 25, says: "I have new information that there are two people assigned to monitoring your movements and activities 24/7, day and night."
A third message, sent a day later, reads: "This is a matter of life and death. I know it is not easy to breathe when you know a sword is handing over your head and it could hit your body at anytime."
Sychev reported the threatening messages to the City of London Police, who handed the case to their criminal investigation department.
Andrey Guryev (far left), the former head of PhosAgro, with Vladimir Putin in February 2020 (Getty Images)
Guryev has an estimated net worth of $9.7billion, and is subject to sanctions in the UKDetective Inspector Michael O’Sullivan said: "We have had a report of malicious communications. We treat any such allegations seriously. We will not be commenting further at this stage."
Sychev raised particular concern over some of the later messages being sent to an email address which is not publicly available.
He said: "I actively used this second email in 2013-19, including for official correspondence with PhosAgro, as well as with Russian law enforcement agencies in the framework of the fabricated criminal case against me, as well as the issue of attempts to kill me.
"That is, PhosAgro shareholders know this address and correspondence from this address is available in the case file of the English trial."
Sychev fell out with PhosAgro over a one per cent stake in the company (Igor Sychev)Around 15 to 20 emails have been sent in total, he added, with the most recent being received on July 2.
They make reference to PhosAgro's shareholders, including Guryev - a "known close associate" of Putin who has an estimated net worth of $9.7billion, and is subject to sanctions in the UK.
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Sychev has also reported the messages to the police force in Latvia, which invited him to come and discuss protective measures.
He claims to have received death threats ever since filing his lawsuit against PhosAgro in 2016, and says his car was even sabotaged on three separate occasions.
The incidents took place while he was driving three different, recently purchased Jeeps (Supplied)Each time, a wheel with suspension components flew off his vehicle, and the brakes failed.
The first incident saw him crash into a truck moving parallel on a highway, but he miraculously survived due to his air bags.
On the second occasion, a couple weeks later, he was driving in a replacement Jeep on the motorway when his brakes stopped working, and he managed to stop "only by inertia" after a couple of minutes.
The third time, about a month later, led to him crashing into a parallel car, but thankfully no one was injured because he was travelling at a low speed.
One of the Jeeps which Sychev claims was sabotaged (Supplied)The incidents took place while he was driving three different, recently purchased Jeeps.
Police have opened an investigation into the latest threats received by Sychev, who says the next step will be to determine whether the case should be referred to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
He said: "My feelings are difficult to describe in words. Of course, there was a shock when I first received the emails, and I'm still under stress now.
"I think that any person in my place would be in a state of stress and shock when you are repeatedly told that your murder has been ordered, you can be killed at any moment and that you are being followed 24/7.
Sychev is taking political asylum in Latvia (Supplied)
He has been advised to take protective measures (Supplied)"I have, of course, become very cautious and taken certain security measures."
PCB Byrne, representing PhosAgro, said: "Our client has been the subject of numerous wild and unsubstantiated allegations by Mr Sychev, which he has put before the Courts on every possible occasion in a desperate attempt to justify claims that have been struck out against our client and the remaining defendants.
"In so doing, the Court has ordered My Sychev to pay costs of those failed applications, which he has conspicuously failed to do.
"His latest attempt in contacting you is yet another desperate example of his doomed attempts to extract monies out of our client to which he has absolutely no entitlement."
The Mirror has contacted the NCA for comment.
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