The Litvinenko Inquiry
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Litvinenko</strong> <strong>Inquiry</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong>se are matters that would obviously have been explored with Mr Kovtun had he<br />
given oral evidence.<br />
6.106 Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun spent the evening having dinner with Dr Shadrin at the<br />
Pescatori restaurant in Dover Street. Mr Lugovoy’s credit card was used to pay the<br />
bill at the restaurant at 10.39pm that evening. <strong>The</strong> reservation book at the restaurant<br />
shows that the three men sat at table 17. 91<br />
6.107 Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun then went on to a bar near the Best Western Hotel named<br />
Dar Marrakesh, where a bill was paid with the same credit card at 11.05pm. <strong>The</strong> bill<br />
was for £9.00, which appeared to reflect the purchase of a shisha pipe.<br />
6.108 <strong>The</strong> Pescatori restaurant and Dar Marrakesh were both found to have secondary<br />
contamination. At the Pescatori, the table with the highest level of contamination was<br />
table 17. 92 At Dar Marrakesh, one of the shisha pipes was found to be contaminated. 93<br />
6.109 Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun spent the night at the Best Western Hotel. As I have<br />
already said, Mr Lugovoy had room 107. Mr Kovtun’s room, which had not been<br />
available earlier, was room 308. As we shall see, this was in fact the only night that<br />
the two men spent at the Best Western Hotel.<br />
6.110 Both rooms were subsequently tested and were found to contain extensive<br />
contamination. 94 Room 107 was more heavily contaminated than room 308. A1 gave<br />
her opinion as to the interpretation of the readings taken in these two rooms. 95 She<br />
said that the most significant result of this testing was the discovery of what she judged<br />
to be primary contamination in the u-bend of the sink in the bathroom of room 107.<br />
She explained that the scientists had opened the u-bend and found the contamination<br />
on detritus such as hair, etc. caught in the u-bend. <strong>The</strong> testing of the room had taken<br />
place on 22 December – more than two months after Mr Lugovoy had stayed in it. A1<br />
said that the repeated use of the sink that would have taken place during that period<br />
explained the fact that relatively low readings were taken in the area of the sink itself –<br />
from where the polonium would have been washed away – in contrast to the sediment<br />
in the u-bend, where the polonium would have been caught. She added that even in<br />
the u-bend the initial levels of contamination may have been considerably higher. In<br />
a nutshell, A1’s view was that the contamination in the u-bend was consistent with<br />
polonium being poured down the sink plughole.<br />
6.111 <strong>The</strong>re are three observations that I would make about these findings at this stage:<br />
a. First, and perhaps obviously, the coincidence of primary contamination being<br />
found both on the boardroom table at the Erinys offices where Mr Lugovoy sat<br />
at a meeting on 16 October and also in the bathroom of the hotel room that he<br />
occupied that day is very striking<br />
b. Second, although there is no direct evidence as to precisely how the polonium<br />
came to be in the u-bend in room 107, the inference can be drawn that it was<br />
poured down the sink by Mr Lugovoy and/or Mr Kovtun either in the act of<br />
preparing a solution to be used in an attempt to poison Mr <strong>Litvinenko</strong> at the<br />
Erinys meeting, or in disposing of the remainder of the solution later in the day. I<br />
91<br />
Mascall 17/79-80<br />
92<br />
Mascall 17/80-81<br />
93<br />
Mascall 9/115-116; 11/124-125<br />
94<br />
Mascall 9/67-78<br />
95<br />
A1 20/16-26; 20/97-98<br />
132