UK police hand file on spy poisoning to prosecutors

LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) Detectives investigating the death of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko said today they had handed a file on the case to British prosecutors.

Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who came to live in Britain and became a fierce Kremlin critic, died of polonium 210 poisoning in London on November 23 last year.

''(The Metropolitan Police) has this morning handed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service regarding the investigation into the death of Alexander Litvinenko,'' a statement from London's Metropolitan Police Scotland Yard headquarters said.

''We are not prepared to discuss the contents of the file.'' Prosecutors said they would examine the file in detail before deciding whether any charges would be brought.

''We'll go through absolutely everything that we've received in depth to see whether any offence has been committed or if anybody should be charged,'' a CPS spokesman said.

He added: ''It will be dealt with expeditiously'', but said it was likely to take some time to process the information and decide what action to take. ''This is quite a unique case so it really is impossible to say how long it will take us.'' Litvinenko made a statement on his deathbed accusing the Kremlin of killing him. The Kremlin has dismissed his allegations as nonsense.

Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy, who met Litvinenko in a London hotel on November 1, the day Litvinenko first fell ill, last week dismissed British media reports that London was preparing to demand his extradition to stand trial for the poisoning.

The Guardian newspaper had cited unidentified British officials as saying an extradition request for Lugovoy could be made as early as next month.

Lugovoy, who denies any guilt, was treated at a Moscow hospital after Litvinenko's death for what some Russian media said was radiation sickness.

British detectives questioned him last year at a Moscow hospital that specialises in treating people with radiation sickness.

REUTERS BDP VC1840