Germany investigates Russian over polonium

HAMBURG, Dec 10 (Reuters) German prosecutors opened an investigation today into a Russian associate of the murdered ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko after finding traces of the radioactive substance polonium in properties he used in Hamburg.

Russian businessman Dmitry Kovtun, who met Litvinenko in London on the day he fell ill, is being investigated on suspicion of illegally handling radioactive material, Hamburg's Chief Prosecutor Martin Koehnke told a news conference.

There was ''a reasonable basis for suspicion that he may not just be a victim but could also be a perpetrator'', Koehnke said.

Litvinenko died on November 23 after receiving a lethal dose of polonium-210. In a statement released after his death, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing him.

The Kremlin has denied involvement in a case that has spawned conspiracy theories, revived memories of Cold War spying and strained relations between Russia and Britain.

German officials found radiation traces in a flat belonging to Kovtun's ex-wife in the northern city of Hamburg and a house in Pinneberg in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein which belongs to Kovtun's former mother-in-law.

Radiation experts said on Sunday that they were 95 per cent certain that the traces had come from the radioactive isotope polonium-210. Final tests were needed to confirm this.

No actual source of radiation was found during the searches of the Hamburg properties and police have stressed there is no risk to the population of the town.

Hamburg's Police Chief Werner Jantosch told reporters there was no indication that the case had its roots in the city.

The plane on which Kovtun travelled to London the day he met Litvinenko was also checked but no radiation was found.

Kovtun, who says that Litvinenko was the middleman in one of his business deals, is now in hospital in Moscow. There have been conflicting reports as to why he was hospitalised.

Another contact of Litvinenko's, Mario Scaramella, was given a clean bill of health on Saturday, a week after he was hospitalised in Britain by doctors who had found a ''significant quantity'' of polonium-210 in his body.

The Italian had met Litvinenko at a London sushi bar on the same day that Kovtun later drank with the former spy during a 30 minute meeting at a hotel bar.

Reuters PDM DB2124