Kremlin Says New Evidence Ties Lawyer Who Died in Jail to Theft of $230 Million

The New York Times

16 November 2010 – Senior Russian police officials, stung by accusations that they had framed a lawyer and then allowed him to die of an untreated illness in jail, sought on Monday to defend themselves by disclosing what they said was new evidence of his guilt.

The police officials contended that the lawyer, Sergei L. Magnitsky, had helped to mastermind a complex tax scheme to steal $230 million from the government. Their announcement, scheduled for the eve of the anniversary of his death last year, represented an effort to turn the tables on Mr. Magnitsky’s supporters, who have organized a concerted campaign in Russia and abroad to show that high-ranking police officials themselves embezzled the money.

The Interior Ministry called a news conference to offer what it called the new information about Mr. Magnitsky. Col. Irina V. Dudukina, a spokeswoman, said the ministry had arrested a person she called an accomplice of Mr. Magnitsky’s who was ready to testify against him.

”Magnitsky was an accountant and participated, in particular, in tax evasion schemes,” Colonel Dudukina said. ”It is not possible to say that he simply fulfilled the will of this employer without being informed of the final goal of his actions.”

In response, Mr. Magnitsky’s colleagues assailed the ministry, saying it was smearing a dead man.

Mr. Magnitsky had been caught in a feud between an international investment fund, Hermitage Capital Management, and law enforcement authorities.

Hermitage has contended that senior Interior Ministry officers raided its offices in Moscow in 2007, took documents related to three of its subsidiaries and used those documents to illegally assume ownership of the subsidiaries. The officers then filed fake tax returns for the subsidiaries and received an illegal $230 million tax refund, Hermitage said.

William Browder, the founder of Hermitage, who was expelled from Russia in 2005 and now lives in London, called the Interior Ministry’s announcement abhorrent.

”Sergei Magnitsky reported a crime committed by police officers,” Mr. Browder said. ”They then arrested him, tortured him and killed him. Now, one year later, they are accusing him of the crime that they committed. There is a special place in hell for people like this.”

Mr. Browder has circulated documents showing that two investigators assigned to the Hermitage case spent a combined amount of more than $4 million on real estate and vehicles during the period that followed the tax fraud.

Colonel Dudukina said the Interior Ministry had looked into these charges as part of a slander case initiated by ministry officials. She said the properties in question were all bought before the tax fraud occurred.

Colonel Dudukina was scathing about a measure put forward by Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, that would impose financial penalties and visa bans on officials implicated in Mr. Magnitsky’s case. She said the list was ”aimed at preventing investigators from taking part in investigative actions on the territories” of countries that have such measures. She said only 7 or 8 of the 60 names on the list were of people involved in the investigation.

”We don’t know why the other people are on that list,” she said.

Mr. Magnitsky documented repeated requests for medical care in prison, and numerous Russian officials have acknowledged that official misconduct contributed to his death. President Dmitri A. Medvedev ordered an official inquiry and dismissed about 20 prison officials. But a year later, the investigation has not led to any arrests, a fact that human rights advocates planned to protest on Tuesday. buy viagra online займы онлайн на карту срочно https://zp-pdl.com/get-quick-online-payday-loan-now.php www.zp-pdl.com займ срочно без отказов и проверок