Hermitage Capital calls for Russian inquiry into $330m ‘tax frauds’ uncoverred by Sergei Magnitsky

The Daily Telegraph

Lawyers for the London-based hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management have applied to the Russian authorities for an inquiry to be opened into the alleged involvement of a senior state official in suspected tax frauds worth more than $330m (£204m).

The alleged frauds were uncovered in 2008 by Sergei Magnitsky, Hermitage’s investigative lawyer whose death in custody while awaiting trial on allegedly trumped-up charges has become a national scandal.

Mr Magnitsky’s colleagues have unearthed new evidence that they claim shows the same two tax officials, Olga Stepanova and Elena Khimina green-lighted the rebates for both alleged frauds. Ms Stepanova has since been promoted to a senior post in the Russian defence ministry.

The criminal complaint, filed on Monday with the Russian State Investigative Committee, was made as President Dmitry Medvedev pledged “a very thorough investigation” into Mr Magnitsky’s death and the alleged frauds he uncovered.

“It is an incident that needs a very thorough investigation, first of all, what really happened and why he was taken into custody, who was behind that, what deals were clinched by both those he represented and by the other side. I have asked the prosecutor general and Ministry of Interior to work on that,” he said.

Tax officials were central to the alleged crimes because they involved apparently fraudulent tax refunds of payments made by large companies. Mr Magnitsky first discovered that $230m of tax Hermitage paid in 2007 had been rebated to others after being alerted to the fact that its subsidiary companies had been stolen.

His subsequent investigations uncovered an allegedly similar $107m prior tax theft at subsidiaries of an investment vehicle being managed by Renaissance Capital, the Russian investment bank. Ms Stepanova and Ms Khimina allegedly approved both tax rebates.

Mr Magnitsky was targeted by the same policemen he alleged were part of the criminal conspiracy only after uncovering the alleged second fraud. He was jailed on charges of tax evasion, held in custody without trial for a year, refused access to his family, developed health problems and was denied medical treatment. He died in jail.

A human rights commission appointed by President Medvedev earlier this year found Russian police had fabricated the charges against Mr Magnitsky.

The Russian authorities have accepted that there was a fraud involving Hermitage’s companies, jailing a sawmill foreman for orchestrating and committing the vastly complex crime. None of the money has been recovered. The alleged crime at RenCap’s investment vehicle has not been investigated and RenCap has stressed it “had zero involvement in the alleged 2006 tax fraud” .

Hermitage believes it has tracked $47m of the allegedly stolen funds to Swiss bank accounts. The Swiss have since frozen those accounts “as an emergency measure”. Implicated individuals, including tax officials and other senior state officers, have also been threatened with a visa ban in Europe and the US. buy over the counter medicines hairy woman https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php займ на карту онлайн