Posts Tagged ‘dudukina’
No matter how much damaging information civic activists or foreign investors have dug out, the fight against corruption will still depend entirely on the country leadership’s political will
WPS: What the Papers Say
On Monday May 16th, 2011, the lawyers of Hermitage Capital Investment Fund Managing Director William Browder attended the IAM Investigation Committee. According to Investigation Committee official representative Irina Dudukina, they were acquainted with the order on the prolongation of the investigation of the criminal case against their client. There is little doubt that all of this is a direct response to the actions of Hermitage Capital. As is known, some time ago Fund lawyers filed an appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office of Switzerland and thus began a criminal investigation of money laundering by Russian officials and members of their families. Representatives of the Fund argue that part of the funds stolen from the Russian budget have been placed on the accounts in Swiss banks. Earlier Fund lawyer Sergey Magnitsky, who was accused of tax evasion and died in prison in 2009, insisted on the investigation of that crime.
If William Browder, who now lives abroad, was interrogated by an investigator, probably he would have been behind the bars already, like it was with Magnitsky, and it cannot be excluded that he we would end up like his colleague.
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Browder Given 11 Hours to Fly to Moscow
Accusing investigators of a political crackdown, Hermitage Capital said its head, William Browder, was given 11 hours’ notice to travel from London to Moscow for questioning – even though he has been banned from Russia.
The summons is a clumsy attempt to create a pretext for issuing an arrest warrant for Browder, the fund said in a letter published online Monday.
Browder was banned from entering Russia in 2005 on unexplained “security grounds,” which means he could not travel to Moscow for questioning, said the letter, which is dated Sunday and addressed to top officials, including Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
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Hermitage Addresses Top Prosecutors With Corruption Allegations
Hermitage Capital accused investigators of a political crackdown on its management, saying the officials ordered the fund’s head to arrive in Moscow from London for questioning in a mere 11 hours.
The interrogation is a clumsy attempt at creating a pretext for issuing an arrest warrant for Hermitage head William Browder, the fund said in a letter released online Monday.
Browder was banned from entering Russia in 2005 on unexplained “security grounds,” which means he could not travel to Moscow for questioning, said the letter, which is dated Sunday and addressed to top officials, including Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
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Stolen Russian tax money is in EU banks, US sleuth says
People responsible for the death of Russian lawyer Sergey Magnitsky have salted away stolen money in EU bank accounts, Magnitsky’s former employer has claimed.
Bill Browder, the US-born head of the UK investment firm, Hermitage Capital Management, and five of his staff have spent the past year hunting down the assets of Russian officials exposed in a €175 million tax fraud by Magnitsky shortly before he was jailed and murdered in his cell.
Browder scored a victory last week when Swiss authorities froze a number of accounts in the Credit Suisse bank following evidence brought to light by Hermiatge and broadcast on YouTube.
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New Video of Tax Official’s $40M Fortune
Real estate in Dubai and Montenegro. Regular first-class travel. Millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts. Russia’s second-best country house. And all made possible with an annual household salary of less than $40,000.
Those are the findings of a private investigation into the assets of Olga Stepanova — the former Moscow tax official who authorized a $230 million payment that no one disputes was embezzled.
The investigation is the latest conducted by supporters of Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in jail after accusing senior Interior Ministry officials of masterminding the $230 million fraud.
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Crab Mogul Fears Magnitsky’s Fate
Arkady Gontmakher, a U.S. seafood mogul under investigation in Russia for money laundering, doubts he will last long enough to see the end of his case.
“I have suffered repeated heart attacks, and I don’t know for how long my heart will last,” he told The Moscow Times on Tuesday.
Gontmakher, 53, looked tired and tense during the interview in a hotel in Moscow. The businessman, who is forbidden to leave Russia, came to the capital for a medical checkup to decide whether he needs heart surgery.
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Magnitsky Investigator handed case of embezzlement from “Transneft”
GZT.ru
(This translation was carried out using Google Translate software.)
The case of misuse of funds during the construction of the ESPO oil pipeline was recently transferred to Investigator Oleg Sil’chenko who conducted the case into Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. About it ” Statements” Said the chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Committee Kirill Kabanov.
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A Year Later, No Charges In Magnitsky Death As EU Mulls Visa Bans
It has been more than a year since Hermitage Capital Management lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in prison, but it will be at least another three months before Russian officials are prepared to make any definitive statements about it.
The investigation into Magnitsky’s Nov. 16, 2009, death in one of Moscow’s most notorious jails has been extended until Feb. 24. Magnitsky, who was awaiting trial on tax evasion charges, alleged before his death that he was tortured and denied adequate medical care—and that Russian authorities were seeking to pressure him into withdrawing allegations of fraud directed at the country’s interior ministries and into implicating Hermitage founder William Browder.
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Adding Insult to Murder
Foreign Policy
15 November 2010 – One year ago tomorrow, Sergei Magnitsky was, for all intents and purposes, murdered after being held in a Russian jail for 358 days. Last week, Russian authorities figuratively spit on his grave as five officials connected to Magnitsky’s case were awarded commendations by the Interior Ministry. The evident absence of any accountability or justice in Russia has lead two members of the U.S. Congress to propose a visa ban and asset freeze against 60 Russian officials involved in the Magnitsky matter. Their efforts should be embraced by President Barack Obama’s administration, and European governments should adopt similar measures.
Magnitsky was a 37-year-old lawyer working for the Moscow firm Firestone Duncan where he represented the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management. Hermitage had been Russia’s largest foreign investor during the early Putin years — until, that is, its head, William Browder, ran afoul of certain Russian officials and had his visa revoked in 2005 on “national security” grounds. A British citizen, Browder had been pushing for greater rights for minority shareholders and better corporate governance among Russian companies. It seemed he pushed too far, especially against such prized state assets as Gazprom. In 2007, Russian authorities opened an investigation against him and Hermitage for tax evasion to the tune of $16.2 million.
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