Russian businessman files complaint after UK police closed threat investigation without notifying him
Igor Sychev was forced to flee his home country in 2016 after receiving sinister messages which hinted that his death caused by poison or a "freak fall accident" would be imminent.
He believes he was being targeted in his home country after launching a lawsuit against his former employer, the chemical company PhosAgro, which is known to be linked to Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
The 51-year-old received some of the threats while in the UK and therefore reported the claims to the Metropolitan Police, who then transferred it to the City of London force.
But Mr Sychev learned just over a fortnight ago that the case was closed with no further action two years ago without him knowing.
The father-of-two told LBC: "There were three assassination attempts and I’ve got nine documents from various expert bodies.
"The Latvian government considered those attempts and confirmed that they were legitimate."
He said that he received threats on his life if he "would not cancel the UK lawsuit".
Mr Sychev reported the threats to the Metropolitan Police who referred it to the City of London Police where officers informed him they had found a potential witness to interrogate.
He said: "In early 2024 they said would notify me about the results but I didn’t receive any information about it from them at all, and they also stopped any communication with me and didn’t respond to my emails.
"In May 2026, I was in London and personally visited one of the police stations where they told me that the case was closed and that they sent me a notification, but I never received anything.
"They said that the reason why they closed the case was because police couldn’t find whoever was sending those emails to me.
"I recently wrote a formal complaint to them and I received confirmation that they got it and that I will be contacted about how it’s going."
The basis of Mr Sychev’s complaint centres on the witness that he says the force "allegedly interrogated", and why officers took "no actions related to him".
He added: "The second complaint is about the negligence and potential corruption, which I have suspected based on how police played this hide-and-seek game with me all those years by ignoring my communication attempts.
"I had to visit them several times starting at the beginning of 2023 when they held a long interrogation with me that was recorded.
"They later said that this will send me the minutes of the record so I can confirm and verify that everything is correct.
"But at the end of the day, I never received anything and shortly after that, they started to hide from me.
"The only viable option that worked was me going to the police station and starting to demand to see and talk with the investigator who is handling my case.
"They have issued a complaint number to it. In this email they mentioned that they will be informing me about the process of how it goes."
My Sychev spent two decades working for the Russian fertiliser company PhosAgro and in 2014 helped it settle some high-profile tax disputes.
But he fell out with executives at the company over money.
He has since allegedly received multiple other alleged threats that come via text, email and even his home letterbox.
Other emails were kept by the Russian which claimed the authorities were "monitoring his movements and activities 24/7, day and night" from the same sender.
A spokesperson for City of London Police said: "This case is being looked at under the Victims’ Right to Review (VRR) Scheme which allows people to ask the police to formally reconsider a decision."
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