Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Hermitage Moves Criminal Complaint Forward

The Windsor Square

Lawyers act­ing on behalf of Her­mitage Cap­i­tal filed a new crim­i­nal com­plaint today with the Russ­ian State Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee demand­ing the pros­e­cu­tion of offi­cials from Moscow Tax Offices 25 and 28, who had per­pe­trated the theft of US$107 mil­lion through a fraud­u­lent tax refund scheme in 2006.

The com­plaint impli­cates Olga Stepanova, head of Moscow Tax Office 28, and Elena Khim­ina, head of Moscow Tax Office 25. They are the same two offi­cials who a year later approved an iden­ti­cal US$230 mil­lion fraud­u­lent tax refund. After Russ­ian lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky exposed the schemes, he was arrested, tor­tured, and killed in Russ­ian police custody.

A Her­mitage Cap­i­tal spokesman said, “This US$107 fraud­u­lent tax refund case has direct rel­e­vance to the case that led the arrest, tor­ture and death in cus­tody of Sergei Mag­nit­sky. If the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment is in any way seri­ous about inves­ti­gat­ing the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, or indeed about fight­ing cor­rup­tion and insti­tut­ing the rule of law, they must inves­ti­gate this crime.”