Once punched on TV, fugitive property developer Sergei Polonsky has been arrested in Cambodia and faces extradition to Russia on fraud charges. Before his latest drama, he spoke exclusively to the Guardian about his mounting financial and legal problems

Punched in the face by fellow Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, jailed for several months in Cambodia for forcing local sailors to jump into the sea, and placed on Interpol's wanted list by Russian authorities seeking his arrest on multi-million-pound fraud charges, Sergei Polonsky has had things rough of late.

On Monday morning, things got even worse for the eccentric property developer, once one of Russia's richest men, as armed police stormed his Cambodian island hideout. Polonsky fled into the jungle when he heard the police arrive, but was caught and marched in handcuffs to a boat which took him to the mainland. He could now be extradited to Russia, where he is accused of stealing more than £100m from investors who had already paid for property that was never built.

The Guardian was able to reach Polonsky at his Cambodian hideout via Skype over the weekend, just prior to his arrest. The fugitive businessman appeared on the call half-naked and visibly agitated.

"I am a construction magnate, I build houses. I don't understand what is happening. How can I explain it to you? Actually, I am talking to myself here, like a psychotherapist, talking to the mirror. Why should I defend myself? Where is Russian justice? Why is the British media silent? Maybe because in England the Blackfriars project was stolen from me."

Polonsky, who once had a fortune estimated by Forbes at $1.2bn (£750m), and was plunged into debt by the 2008 financial crisis, was due to build a 52-story skyscraper in Blackfriars, London, that was meant to have an end value of as much as £1bn, but the project was put into administration and shelved.

Polonsky is one of the more colourful characters in the Russian oligarch milieu, frequently posting semi-literate rants on his Facebook page that usually end with the words "Abracadabra Boom!" He was known for his unorthodox business style and for declaring, at the peak of the Russian property boom, that anyone who did not have a billion dollars should go to hell. He once fulfilled a promise that he would eat his tie if real-estate prices did not go up, seasoning a square of tie fabric with salt and pepper, and gobbling it up on live television.

From his Cambodian island, Polonsky has been posting regular videos to Facebook. One last Friday featured a four-minute address to the camera from a pier, with the Russian naked save for a towel round his waist, and with the sea in the background.

"I have information that people want to kill me by poisoning me with tranquilisers," he said. "If I'm such a crook and scumbag, then what does it say for the rest of the Russian business community? It's a slap in the face for them," said Polonsky. "I have an open company ... or, at least, I had one. Now I don't know where it is. I don't have money, don't have anything. I'm off for a swim." With that, he jumped into the water, and the video ended.

In late 2011, Polonsky was assaulted on television by Alexander Lebedev, owner of the Independent and London Evening Standard newspapers. The pair were taking part in a studio discussion on the global financial crisis, and Polonsky became increasingly agitated with his fellow guests, eventually saying he wanted to "punch someone in the chops". At this point, Lebedev himself jumped up and dealt a right hook to Polonsky, knocking him off his chair.

Lebedev's trial, on the bizarre charge of "hooliganism motivated by the hatred of businessmen as a political class", took place this summer, and was complicated by Polonsky's arrest in Cambodia on New Year's Eve, when he and several friends were accused of assaulting local sailors. He was released from jail in Cambodia in April on bail, under agreement that he would not leave the country. Almost immediately, he fled to Israel, where he applied for citizenship.

Lebedev made repeated demands in court that the judge order Polonsky himself, as the main witness and victim of the crime, to attend court and testify, but Polonsky's lawyers argued he was unable to attend as he was in a Cambodian prison. The judge accepted this argument, despite Polonsky posting a variety of photographs online of him relaxing on Israeli beaches. Adding a further layer of absurdity to the proceedings, Polonsky then fired his lawyers via Facebook just as they were giving their closing address. In the end, the main charge, which carried a potential jail sentence of five years, was dropped, and Lebedev was sentenced to just 150 hours of community service.

On the Skype call, Polonsky accuses Lebedev of spending €5m (£4m) to wage a PR campaign against him. "This man said openly that he was going to harass me because I took him to court. The court found him guilty, and this man is threatening me! In the presence of lawyers! It is shocking." Lebedev dismisses the allegations and says, in turn, that Polonsky himself is a "tiny part" of a huge plot against him funded by business foes.

Israel rejected Polonsky's citizenship application, and the former billionaire found himself back on his private island. Prior to his arrest, he was in the process of applying for Cambodian citizenship.

"On a plane," he says, when asked how he managed to return to the country which he fled from breaking his bail conditions. It is unclear whether Monday's arrest is over the previous charges he faced in Cambodia, or because of the Interpol warrant, but Russian television said he could be extradited to Moscow in the coming days.

When asked about the substance of the fraud allegations, Polonsky refers to a letter he has written to Interpol and uploaded to Facebook. It is stamped, signed and fingerprinted and comes in two versions, a Russian one and a dubious English translation, which notes that the Interpol warrant causes "economic loss to me personally and to the business community in the world because of the lack of logical and human models of understanding global laws".

"If there was no court case how can they accuse me?" says Polonsky, getting irate and starting to shout. "It is impossible. Where is the court case? Have you gone mental, where is the fucking court case, do you want me to fucking die?"

Polonsky points out that the head investigator on his case is Oleg Silchenko, an official who is barred from entering the US, having been placed on the so-called "Magnitsky list" of officials believed to be complicit in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a whistleblowing lawyer who uncovered huge corruption but was then arrested, and died in jail. Polonsky adds that he has information that Silchenko had flown to Cambodia in recent days in an attempt to negotiate the arrest and extradition of Polonsky.

Polonsky had offered to return to Russia voluntarily if he were guaranteed house arrest rather than jail, and said he would provide information on corrupt businessmen to avoid going to prison. Russian authorities rejected this deal.

"I have the feeling that everyone in Russia has gone mad," says Polonsky via Skype. "Have they released some chemical into the air there? What is everyone breathing? What the fuck are you breathing there?"