By RIA Novosti
London : British investigators have said the death of Georgian billionaire and opposition leader Badri Patarkatsishvili was not linked to radioactive poisoning.
A police spokesperson in Surrey told RIA Novosti Wednesday there was no suspicion that radioactive substances were used to kill Patarkatsishvili who ran for president and lost to incumbent Mikheil Saakashvili.
Patarkatsishvili, 52, died late Tuesday at his home in Surrey, prompting media to draw parallels with the radioactive poisoning of former Russian security officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in November 2006.
His death following a reported heart attack was announced on Georgian public television.
Patarkatsishvili, Georgia’s richest man, came third in the Jan 5 presidential polls in the Caucasus state, garnering 7.1 percent of the vote.
He was put on the wanted list at home on charges of plotting a coup during November street protests in Tbilisi against Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The tycoon earlier said he feared he might be the target of an assassination plot.
Patarkatsishvili’s personal doctor said that the businessman did not have a history of cardiac illness.