The thief in law extradited to Spain, Tariel Oniani, better known as Taro, became involved in a new high-profile investigation. According to Rosbalt, the Barcelona Investigative Court suspects that the thief in law in bribing a Catalan government’s delegate, Eduardo Planels. This case is considered amid another investigation into the alleged Russian interference in the referendum on the independence of Catalonia.
According to a source, in the spring of 2019, shortly before Oniani’s alleged release from a Russian prison, where he had been serving a 10-year sentence for kidnapping and extortion, his associates tried to “sponsor” the extradition of Taro to Georgia. According to the reports, it could not be done without a very large sum of money. From Georgia, the thief in law was expected to fly to Turkey, where a large number of another thieves in law live. However, all these plans were destroyed by the decision of Russia’s FSB to extradite Taro to Spain, not Georgia. The authorities of Spain, we recall, suspect the thief in law in participation in the criminal community and money laundering.
After it became known that Oniani would be extradited to Spain, his associates started to prepare good conditions for his live there. They hoped that the authorities would change the measure of restraint to house arrest or a bail. And instead of a real punishment, he would get a very large fine.
After Oniani’s extradition to Spain, a hearing on the election of a preventive measure against him was held at the National Court. Lawyers of the thief in law insisted that their client, who had spent almost 8 months under extradition arrest in Russia, should be sent under house arrest with tracking sensors on his body. They even presented documents stating that relatives of the thief in law rented an apartment in Barcelona for this purpose.
Yet the prosecution insisted on the arrest, noting that Oniani had a status of thief in law and during a special operation he managed to escape from the security officials in 2015, leaving his underage daughter.
As a result, the court decided to leave Oniani in jail. He is in strict security prison, the Soto del Real.
Spain is now actively seeking a Russian trace in the recent events in Catalonia. In this connection, the authorities decided to “refresh” the old investigation against an ex-delegate of the Government of Catalonia, Eduardo Planels. The investigation suspects that he helped representatives of the “Russian mafia”, in particular, Malkhas Tetruashvili and Tariel Oniani, to obtain a residence permit in Catalonia. The investigation also plans to perform the interrogation of the thief in law in this case.