Moscow, Jul 26 (IANS/RIA Novosti): The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has turned down Russia's request for extraditing the suspected leader of a group accused of illegal takeovers of dozens of companies, said a Russian police official.

Vladislav Kostaryov is suspected of leading a group, which took over 26 enterprises in the Sverdlovsk Region in the Urals, as well as businesses in Moscow, the Khakassia Republic in Siberia, the Samara Region on Volga and the city of Rzhev in central Russia between 1999-2007.

It caused damages estimated at more than 1.5 billion rubles (about $46 million).

Fourteen members of the group have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from four to nine years.

Another leader of the group, Alexander Khabarov, was arrested and later found hanged in his cell. Kostaryov and his three accomplices are still at large.

"Kostaryov's last known whereabouts were in the United Arab Emirates," said Urals Federal District Interior Department deputy head Andrei Taranenko.

The suspects have been charged with "organising a criminal group and participating in it". They face a prison term of up to 10 years and a fine of up to 1 million rubles ($30,600).