Posts Tagged ‘Hermitage’
Magnitsky charges were fabricated, inquiry says; Justice Leaked document shows commission will blame Interior Ministry officials and FSB for lawyer’s cell death
Daily Telegraph
In a landmark investigation Into the cell death of Moscow lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, a special Kremlin commission Is likely to publicly Implicate iriGmDors of the Interior Ministry and FSB.
The metal cage used for prisoners in courtroom No 14 at the Tverskoi regional court was empty during a recent hearing, its door wide open, when the court considered the arrest of Ivan Cherkasov, a senior executive at British investment fund Hermitage Capital.
Mr Cherkasov, who lives in London, said he has no intention of returning to face charges of tax evasion he says are false. He said his arrest was an act of revenge by members of the Russian security services.
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Investigator Silchenko was absolved of all Guilt in Connection with Sergei Magnitsky’s death in detention cell
It was the Russian Investigative Committee that demanded from the Prosecutor General’s Office to run a check of Silchenko’s actions and performance in the course of the investigation that ended in the suspect’s demise. The demand for the investigation was made on May 11 within the framework of the broader investigation of the circumstances of the auditor’s death. It took the Prosecutor General’s Office just over a week to make a formal answer.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, a thorough investigation of Silchenko’s actions failed to uncover any violations of the federal legislation that might be qualified as encroachment on the constitutional rights of the involved persons.
Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin pointed out that the demand to the Prosecutor General’s Office concerned a check of all circumstances of the investigation involving Magnitsky (including the grounds on which criminal charges had been pressed against him and whether or not all procedures had been observed properly, choice of the measure of restraint, extension of preliminary detention, and consideration of the suspects’ complaints and requests).
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Dead lawyer’s supporters fume after Silchenko is exonerated by prosecutors
Oleg Silchenko, the man who activists and western politicians accuse of bringing about Sergei Magnitsky’s death, has been cleared by the Prosecutor General’s office.
Vladimir Markin, Investigative Committee spokesman, said Lt.Col. Silchenko had not violated any federal laws in “pressing criminal charges and arresting” Magtnitsky, or in extending his custody as trial approached, RIA Novosti reported.
Magnistky died in detention awaiting trial for the same embezzlement charges he was accusing government officials of. He died aged 37 after being denied medical treatment for pancreatitis.
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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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Interview of Hermitage Capital Investment Fund head William Browder on the case of Sergey Magnitsky and its aftereffects for the Russian economy
WPS: What the Papers Say
Vladimir Putin has failed to justify the hopes of investors on the establishment of clear rules of the game; he has created a terrible and destructive class of nomenclature oligarchy.
The case of the Hermitage Capital Investment Fund and the death of lawyer Sergey Magnitsky in a preliminary detention cell are similar to the case of YuKOS as viewed in terms of public response. Below is an interview of William Browder, head of Hermitage Capital.
Q. – We would like to set the record straight regarding the exposing videos and the freezing of certain personal bank accounts of Russian officials by the Prosecutor’s Office in Switzerland. Did Hermitage initiate those actions, and why were they launched?
A. – It was Hermitage Capital lawyers that filed an appeal to the prosecutor in Switzerland, and that appeal initiated the criminal investigation of money laundering of some Russian officials and members of their families – I believe it speaks for itself. “The Untouchables”, a film uploaded at youtube.com and released by friends and colleagues of Magnitsky, highlights in detail information of the enrichment by millions of dollars of the families of those officials, their real estate property abroad, and their personal bank accounts in Switzerland. The Swiss authorities have already launched a criminal case based on that information.
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Impudence and Impunity
Russia Profile.org
As Russia prepares for this year’s Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, the long-running saga of the Hermitage Capital Management will loom large in the minds of potential investors and could cast a shadow of uncertainty over Russia’s shaky investment climate. Last week, one of the individuals accused by the British hedge-fund firm of involvement in a $230 million tax scam, finally broke what looked like a sacred vow of silence.
In an interview with the Vedomosti business daily published on Friday, Vladlen Stepanov, the husband of a Russian tax official who allegedly embezzled millions through the tax rebate scam, denied any connection between his wealth and the fraud. He announced that he had filed a lawsuit to protect his honor, dignity and business reputation against the Echo of Moscow radio station, which aired the allegations, and against Jamison Firestone, a managing partner at Firestone Duncan who voiced them.
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BP-Rosneft Shows Russia Is ‘Not Investable’: Browder
The collapse of a BP share-swap deal with Russian state oil company Rosneft is just one of a string of failures which show that Russia is “uninvestable”, according to William Browder, once the country’s largest portfolio investor.
BP’s [BP 44.71 0.34 (+0.77%) ] proposed tie-up with Rosneft fell through after an agreement could not be reached with Alfa Access Renova (AAR) — a consortium of local billionaires who had a pre-existing joint venture with the oil giant, TNK-BP – to break an earlier contract.
BP had been hoping to work with the state-owned company to explore and develop assets in Russia’s arctic regions.
“What this story shows is the long and sad tale of BP in Russia, and how they’ve basically encountered problems at every single turn in their quest to get Russian oil reserves,” Browder told CNBC.com.
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Swapping Jackson-Vanik for Magnitsky
Relations between Cold War-era foes Moscow and Washington have long been distrustful, hypocritical, peppered with mutual insinuations and patched together with the most tenuous of threads. But now, on the eve of State Duma and presidential elections, an inevitable crisis in relations is nearing that threatens to tear them apart at the seams.
Last week, a group of 15 U.S. senators formally introduced a bill targeting Russians for human rights violations and corruption, including 60 officials connected to the jail death of Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The bill would ban them from entering the United States and freeze any U.S.-based assets.
Chances are high that the bill will be passed. The sanctions against corrupt officials and criminals-cum-politicians could serve as a replacement for the Jackson-Vanik amendment that has long been in need of repeal. When U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met with Russian opposition leaders during his visit to Moscow in March, he told us that support was growing on Capitol Hill for new sanctions against Russian crooks and thieves that could replace the old Cold War-era law.
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President Dmitry Medvedev Craves a New Economic Order Both at Home and Abroad
While an international legal forum is hardly the perfect setting for delving deep into the intricacies of economic governance, in Russia’s highly convoluted regulatory environment the exception is quite often the rule. As in many international discussion forums hosted by Russia lately, economic issues loom large at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum that kicked off on Friday. “We now need to start discussing new advanced standards in banking, finances and accounting, and common corporate governance standards,” Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev told participants in a keynote address on Friday.
The three-day legal forum, organized to discuss the role of law in the innovative and safe development of global peace, was attended by nearly 500 legal experts and politicians that included Thorbjorn Jagland, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, Cecilia Malstrom, EU Home Affairs commissioner and Hans van Loon, secretary general of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. Akira Kawamura, the president of the International Bar Association and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder also attended the forum, which was organized at the behest of the Russian president.
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