Police confirm death of Russian billionaire in Zanzibar

Dar es Salaam. Police in Zanzibar yesterday confirmed reports of the death of a Russian billionaire Igor Sosin, who was found dead at Park Hyatt in Zanzibar this week.

Speaking to The Citizen, Mjini Magharibi Regional Police Commander (RPC) Awadhi Juma Haji said the incident occurred this week in the Zanzibar archipelago.

“It is true that a Russian national with that name died at the Park Hyatt Hotel this week…I can’t remember the exact date because I’m currently not at the office,” he said over the phone.

He said after his body had been taken to Mnazi Mmoja Referral Hospital for examinations that would establish cause of his death.

“My office hasn’t received any report from the hospital; therefore I can’t exactly say what has killed him. But, his body will be flown to his country for burial procedures have been completed,” he said.

The Daily Mail reported yesterday that Sosin had succumbed in Zanzibar five years after his son strangled his second wife with a phone cable.

Mr Sosin, a retail magnate and portfolio investor recovered from coronavirus earlier this year.

He was reported to have been going through a divorce with his third wife at the time of his death.

His family said he could not be woken and doctors pronounced him dead and the cause of death is not yet established.

Mr Sosin was known for his love of lavish parties, yachts, tennis and skiing.

He was often seen on the Cote d’Azur resorts, and once spent several million pounds on a collection of dresses belonging to Sharon Stone which he gifted to one of his wives.

In the US, he often rented a luxury house on Ox Pasture Lane in elite Southampton for almost £650,000, a property boasting 10 acres, two pools and a 50ft water fountain.

He famously held a swanky Fourth of July party at the property.

In 2013, Mr Sosin was reported to have paid more than £200,000 for Truman Capote’s 1958 typed manuscript of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

The family had been hit by tragedy previously, when his son Egor, then 19, strangled and repeatedly struck his mother - Sosin’s second wife Anastasia - with a phone charger cable.

He confessed to the killing claiming he wanted to ‘expel the devil’ from inside her when they stayed at a hotel in Kazan.

Egor did not face trial after being diagnosed with an unspecified ‘acute mental disorder’.

He was later released from a specialist psychiatric hospital after successful psychiatric treatment.

Sonin senior had founded pioneering Russian retail outlets Starik Hottabych and Modi after the fall of the Soviet Union.

He was also a former co-owner of OBI hypermarkets. He was credited with bringing household goods and do-it-yourself stores to the Russian market. He also branched into pet stores.

Sosin had recovered from coronavirus several months ago. He had intended to celebrate the New Year in Zanzibar.