KLAIPEDA - Three foreigners and one Lithuanian have been arrested in connection with the murder of Sweden's former honorary consul in Lithuania's port city.
The Klaipeda Region District Court arraigned three suspects 's two Kurds who are citizens of Turkey and a Turk who is a Swedish citizen 's for the murder of oil dealer Leif Annermalm, who had established Sweden's honorary consulate five years ago.
All three of the foreigners were apprehended in a Klaipeda restaurant run by one of the suspects. The fourth suspect, a 58-year-old resident of Klaipeda, was apprehended March 23. Annermalm, who reportedly knew the suspects, was found dead after being set on fire in the Purmaliai village.
Police said that Annermalm was familiar with the suspects. The foreigners were legal aliens in Lithuania and had settled in Klaipeda.
Annermalm was CEO of Genciu Nafta, an oil extraction company, and established Sweden's Honorary Consulate in his office five years ago. After being dismissed from the company last year, Annermalm abandoned the premises, losing his powers as honorary consul.
Law enforcement agencies have begun a pre-trial investigation into embezzlement of over 452,000 litas (131,000 euros) worth of Genciu Nafta's assets by Annermalm, though no accusation has been made against him. Lietuvos Rytas reported that suspicions lie around fraudulent oil-sale transactions, whereby Annermalm would artificially reduce the purchase price of Genciu Nafta's crude and accept the difference as kickbacks, which he in turn deposited in Latvian banks.
