Trial of dead lawyer Sergei Magnitsky may shine light on UK investigators

The Times

There were two empty chairs in Room 17 of Tverskoi court in Moscow yesterday. The defendants were indisposed.

One, Sergei Magnitsky, a whistleblowing lawyer, died more than three years ago in his prison cell. The other, the millionaire US businessman Bill Browder, expelled from Russia, was sitting in his office in Soho, Central London, fuming about a case that is worthy of the absurdist 19th-century Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol.

“We’re not going to dignify a Stalinist show trial by our presence,” said the head of the investment fund Hermitage Capital, a campaigner for sanctions against 60 officials who he claims were complicit in the torture and death of his associate.

He argues that the officials defrauded some $230 million from the Russian state using documentation stolen from Hermitage offices in Moscow. When he and Mr Magnitsky uncovered the conspiracy, the authorities turned the tables on the two whistleblowers, accusing them of a $17.5 million tax evasion.

The trial has given Mr Browder a chance to prod European investigators — including in Britain — into tackling those involved in the Magnitsky affair, which he describes as “potentially the Watergate of the Putin era”.

In mid-April, the US Government will publish the names and that should, Mr Browder says, galvanise Britain into action. The list include senior officials from the Interior Ministry, tax and customs officials and prison functionaries.

“How will the Home Office be able to justify allowing the torturer and murderer of Sergei Magnitsky, identified and sanctioned by the US Government, to enter Britain?” he says, plainly frustrated at his attempts to mobilise the British authorities to investigate the financial trail of the missing millions.
He added: “There were UK companies that were involved in laundering the money, there were UK lawyers and registration agents that set up these companies, and UK citizens that were directors of these companies.”

If he had been in court — yesterday was a pre-trial hearing — Mr Browder would have made four points. “First, you cannot try a dead man,” he said. “Second, there was no tax evasion.Third, even if there were evidence to that effect, the ten-year statute of limitation for a tax offence has expired. And finally: This is a vindictive and retaliatory case.”

The Russians have denied torturing or killing Mr Magnitsky. There have been no convictions. The court has appointed State lawyers to represent the two men. Natalya, the mother of Mr Magnitsky, has called the move cynical. Mr Browder said of his lawyer: “He hasn’t contacted me.” быстрые займы на карту unshaven girl https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php www.zp-pdl.com займ на карту онлайн