Posts Tagged ‘olga tanas’
Moldova Joins Campaign to Probe Russian Money Laundering
Moldova said it’s investigating Russian money laundering, becoming the fifth country to announce an inquiry into bank transfers stemming from the biggest tax fraud in Russian history.
Moldovan authorities opened a criminal investigation into suspected money laundering on Dec. 28, Anzhela Starinschi, a spokeswoman for the National Anti-Corruption Center in Chisinau, said by phone today.
The probe concerns funds transferred in 2008 to Moldova’s state-controlled Banca de Economii, according to a letter sent by Prime Minister Vladimir Filat last week to the anti- corruption center, the general prosecutor’s office and Interior Ministry. Banca de Economii declined to comment by phone and asked for an e-mailed request, to which it hasn’t repsonded.
Switzerland, Cyprus, Latvia and Lithuania are also investigating money laundering connected to a $230 million tax fraud uncovered by Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in 2009 in a Moscow prison. His case sparked a diplomatic dispute between the U.S. and Russia, after American sanctions imposed in December on Russian officials accused of having a role in his death prompted Moscow to bar U.S. adoptions of Russian children.
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Russia Hires Goldman to Boost Investor Image Abroad
Russia hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) to boost its image abroad as the most corrupt country among the Group of 20 last year seeks to attract foreign investors.
The Economy Ministry and the Russian Direct Investment Fund have signed a memorandum with Goldman under which the New York- based bank will advise on issues such as communicating government decisions, according to Deputy Economy Minister Sergei Belyakov. State-owned banks including OAO Sberbank (SBER) and VTB Group will also assist, he said.
“We don’t know how to communicate with investors,” Belyakov told reporters today in Moscow.
President Vladimir Putin last year ordered the government to improve Russia’s standing in the World Bank’s Doing Business rating to 20th by 2018. It climbed eight positions to 112 in the latest study, issued in October. While that’s better than BRIC peers India and Brazil, Russia is still the worst among major economies in terms of graft, Transparency International said last month in its annual Corruption Perceptions Index.
The world’s largest energy exporter plans to raise a record $10 billion from asset sales this year, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said in an interview with Bloomberg Television this month. While corruption continues to be an issue, it’s less of an issue for foreign investors who have already committed to Russia, Shuvalov said.
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Russia 2012 forum highlights the need to separate government and economy
Mass privatization, power body reforms, creation of a competitive political system and the pardon of Mikhail Khodorkovsky – these are the steps that foreign investors are waiting for from the Russian ruling elite, as the annual “Russia 2012” economic forum showed.
The forum was organized by Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, and investment company Troika dialogue as a continuation of the Davos economic forum.
Troika Dialogue head, Ruben Vardanyan, described Russia’s three main challenges. “First of all, corruption. Secondly, the problem of government’s interference in the economy and the high level of monopolization. Thirdly, the political system has outdated itself,” Vardanyan said while opening of the forum on Thursday.
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