Queensland Police have refused to be drawn on the impetus for offering a $250,000 reward to find the people who killed ex-KGB colonel Gennadi Bernovski at his home on the Gold Coast nearly two decades ago, saying it was simply a bid to crack a “cold case”.
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Mr Bernovski died in a hail of bullets outside his luxury Benowa Waters home on July 25, 2000.
Police were asked if the former Russian operative was an Australian citizen at the time of his murder, but declined to say.
Some family members of Mr Bernovski are understood to be living in Australia at undisclosed locations.
The federal Department of Attorney-General also declined to say whether they have sought to extradite Russian national Oleg Kouzmine, who was living on the Gold Coast at the time, back to Australia for questioning.
In a statement, a spokeswoman said: “As a matter of longstanding practice, the Australian government does not confirm whether it has made a request for assistance to a foreign country in a criminal matter.
“Criminal investigations are operational matters for the relevant law enforcement authority, and enquiries should be directed to those authorities.”
The Australian Federal Police was asked whether Mr Bernovski and Mr Kouzmine were previously on watch lists, how they came to be living in Australia and what the “working theory” behind the killing was.
A spokeswoman declined to comment, instead referring all enquiries to Queensland Police.
The man leading the homicide investigation, Detective Inspector Mark Hogan from Gold Coast Criminal Investigation Branch, said he believed there were people in the community who had information about the case and urged them to come forward.
“Police have never given up searching for answers on this case and we remain determined to find those responsible for Mr Bernovski’s death,” Inspector Hogan said.
“From time to time we review those matters (cold cases), but on this matter, we understand the importance of time going by because of the nature of the offence. And we thought it was a good opportunity to bring this out now, with the people involved growing old and those sorts of things.
“We know there’s people out there who can help deliver justice in respect of this case.
“We need to [have] justice for Mr Bernovski and his family and friends, but also equally importantly, we need to ensure that our community can be assured that those who commit crime are held to account, brought before courts and dealt with appropriately.
“This reward is an incentive for those people out there who might have information about this case, to come forward.”
Police Minister Mark Ryan said he hoped the reward would reignite public interest in the case.
“We are appealing to the public to come forward and help police so that Mr Bernovski’s family can finally get the closure they deserve,” he said.
“They deserve to know what happened to him and to see those responsible brought to justice.
“We also owe it to the community to ensure anyone who commits such serious and heinous crimes face the full force of the law, regardless of the time that has passed.
“I urge anyone with any information, no matter how small, to contact police immediately.
“Just call Policelink on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, 24 hours a day.”
