White & Case and DLA Piper have insisted that their Moscow operations are operating normally after they were yesterday (16 June) raided by Russian authorities in connection with a fraud investigation.

According to local press reports in the Moscow Post, police seized documents in several different business locations in connection with an $87.5m (£53.9m) fraud case and a related conflict between owners of the Hotel Moskva.

The law firms said that the searches related to client activities and did not involve the firms themselves.

A DLA Piper spokesperson said: "There was a search yesterday in relation to an investigation of a former client of the firm. There has been a lot of activity as Russian authorities have been doing searches across Moscow."

The firm added that the office was operating normally and that no employees were involved.

White & Case declined to comment on the reason behind the raids, but said in a statement: "White & Case is co-operating fully with Russian authorities, as appropriate. White & Case and its personnel are not accused of any wrongdoing, and our office operations are unaffected. However, as this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further."

The latest raids are not the first time that offices of international law firms have been searched in the Russian capital. A number of law firm raids last August prompted the International Bar Association (IBA) to urge the Russian Government to guarantee the protection of lawyers' rights.