A banker who in a fit of road rage ordered his bodyguards to beat up a Dutch national with alleged ties to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was jailed for 4 1/2 years on Tuesday, Interfax reported.
Moscow's Kuntsevsky District Court has convicted Matvei Urin, 34, in the attack on Jorrit Ioole Faassen over a road accident at the prestigious Rublyovskoye Shosse outside Moscow last November.
The incident was prompted by the Dutchman refusing to give way to Urin's car, which was violating traffic rules, reports said. Faassen sustained head injuries in the beating.
Media claimed at the time that Faassen, who worked in Gazprom's structures, could be a boyfriend of one of Putin's two daughters. The reports were never confirmed.
Urin was sentenced to three years in prison by another district court in April, and his driver and six bodyguards were also given prison terms from two to 4 1/2 years. But the Moscow City Court overturned his verdict as "too mild."
Six banks controlled by Urin were declared bankrupt over the course of the investigation.
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