Texan questioned about Russian hunting trip

HOUSTON, July 20 (Reuters) A US federal grand jury is investigating an allegation that Texas energy billionaire Dan Duncan violated Russian hunting laws during a 2002 trip, a spokesman for Duncan's lawyer said.

Duncan, 74, co-founder and chairman of Enterprise Products Partners, a big pipeline company, appeared before the panel on Wednesday to answer questions about a helicopter hunting trip he and others took with Russian guides five years ago.

Duncan told the Houston Chronicle he shot and killed a moose and a sheep from a helicopter, a practice he did not know was illegal in Russia. Neither animal is considered an endangered species.

No complaints or charges were filed in Russia, Duncan's lawyer Rusty Hardin said. The guide is now a top official with a Russian hunting-license agency, the lawyer said.

Hardin expressed astonishment at the investigation in Texas by a US prosecutor involving an event in Russia. The applicable law could be a 107-year-old law intended to stop international trafficking in rare plants and animals, he said.

''What the hell is the US interest in bringing felony charges here for hunting on Russian soil, where not one single person has complained?'' Hardin told the Chronicle. ''Is this really the best use of our prosecutorial resources?'' Duncan, who has an estimated net worth of .2 billion and is considered to be the wealthiest man in Houston, told the Chronicle he assumed the hunt was legal because local guides usually know and obey locally applicable laws.

''We admitted from the word 'go' that I shot them from the helicopter,'' Duncan told the Chronicle. He added that in the 1990s he took a similar trip and shot an animal from a helicopter.

''The whole question is: 'Did I know it was illegal? I did not,''' Duncan said.

A spokeswoman for the US Attorney's Office in Houston referred calls to the US Justice Department in Washington. A Justice Department spokesman declined comment.

Hardin said he expects to hear soon if the grand jury decides to indict. The statute of limitations, the deadline for prosecution, expires in September, he said.

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