Posts Tagged ‘RFE’
The Magnitsky Money: From Russia…And Then What?
What if $230 million went missing and no one wanted to get it back? That is the puzzling question posed by Russia’s years of unwillingness to investigate the well-documented fraud claims made by lawyer and auditor Sergei Magnitsky.
At least half a dozen European Union countries, plus Switzerland, have been looking into where the so-called Magnitsky money might have gone. But Russia has done virtually nothing to investigate the allegations and documentation that Magnitsky brought to authorities before his death in pretrial detention in 2009.
Earlier this month, attention was focused on Moldova, which is looking into a complaint filed in June 2012 by Hermitage Capital Management, the firm that Magnitsky represented and which was also an alleged victim of the fraud.
‘Documentary Evidence’
Hermitage CEO William Browder — whom Russia has accused of fraud in an unrelated case — told RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service what he is seeking in Chisinau.
“We have given [the Moldovan authorities] documentary evidence that shows money flowing into accounts at Banca de Economii and then money flowing out from those accounts,” Browder says. “We’d like to have the information on who managed those accounts, who was responsible for opening those accounts, what kind of due diligence was done in terms of who was behind those accounts. And ultimately we’d like to have the police and the prosecutor prosecute any person in Moldova or elsewhere who was responsible for laundering this money through Moldova.”
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Push For Magnitsky Sanctions Intensifies In Europe
The battle over the Sergei Magnitsky case is moving to Europe. After being lobbied by activists for nearly three years, the U.S. Congress passed legislation in late 2012 to sanction Russian officials implicated in the prosecution and death of Magnitsky, a whistle-blowing Moscow lawyer who died in pretrial detention. The case has come to symbolize Russia’s perceived rights failings.
The U.S. law, which provides for asset freezes and visa bans on Russian officials who violate human rights, was never meant to be an end in itself. Instead, the legislation was a stepping stone to passing something similar in the European Union.
And that effort is now gaining momentum.
“Russians consider themselves, really, like a part of Europe — Europeans,” says Kristiina Ojuland, a member of the European Parliament from Estonia who has spearheaded the push. “And therefore it’s significant that Europe reacts, not only [to] the Magnitsky case, but in broader terms, reacts against this corrupt, black money that is flying into the EU countries.”
Asset freezes and visa bans in Europe would hit Russian officials considerably harder than similar sanctions in the United States. As Ojuland notes, Russian officials are fond of vacationing, shopping, and educating their children in EU countries. They are also more likely to keep money in European banks.
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Russian TV Airs New Accusations Against Browder
A program on Russia’s state-controlled Channel One television has accused investor William Browder of committing tax fraud worth billions of rubles in Russia’s republic of Kalmykia.
The broadcast said Browder’s Hermitage Capital Investments set up 10 companies in the republic that hired disabled people for small salaries in order to reap tax benefits and to qualify to purchase shares in Russian companies, including Gazprom.
Last week, prosecutors opened an investigation into charges Browder illegally purchased Gazprom shares at a time when foreigners were not allowed to do so.
Browder is also a defendant in absentia in a tax-evasion case along with former Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
Magnitsky faces the charges despite the fact that he died while in pretrial custody in 2009.
On March 7, the NTV channel broadcast a program claiming Browder was a British agent.
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Magnitsky Partner Faces Charges In Gazprom Stock Case
Russian authorities say they are preparing to bring new charges against William Browder, the U.S.-born former employer of the late Russian anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The Interior Ministry on March 5 said Browder, the founder of the Hermitage Capital investment fund, is accused of illegally purchasing $3 billion in shares in Russia’s state-controlled company Gazprom.
Browder has campaigned for the prosecution of those responsible for the death of Magnitsky, who died in pretrial detention after accusing Russian officials of fraud.
“They can sort of whip themselves up into a crazy frenzy of misuse of their own justice system, but it really has no impact on our campaign,” Browder told RFE/RL’s Russian Service after the announcement. “They killed Sergei Magnitsky, they tortured him to death. We’re going to get justice for Sergei Magnitsy. And the more of this crazy stuff they do, the more obvious it becomes that there is a criminal regime going on in Russia who are basically doing everything they can to cover up the murder, and we’re not going to let them cover it up.”
The announcement of the new charges against Browder came one day after a Russian court announced on March 4 that an unprecedented posthumous trial against Magnitsky for tax evasion will start on March 11.
Browder is a co-defendant in the trial and will be tried in absentia.
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Hearing Postponed In Posthumous Trial Of Magnitsky
A preliminary hearing has been postponed in the posthumous trial of Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian lawyer who died in prison in 2009 after accusing government officials in a massive fraud scheme.
A Magnitsky family lawyer told the Interfax news agency that the family would not cooperate in the trial, which has now been set for February 18. The court announced it will appoint lawyers to defend Magnitsky.
Prosecutors filed new charges of tax evasion against Magnitsky last year. Charges have also been filed against William Browder, the owner of the Hermitage Capital investment fund where Magnitsky worked. Browder, who is outside Russia, is to be tried in absentia.
Supporters, NGOs, and the Kremlin’s own human rights commission say the 37-year-old Magnitsky was denied proper medical care and abused during nearly a year in pre-trial detention. He was arrested after implicating mid-ranking Interior Ministry and tax officials in a $230 million scheme to defraud the government. His case has become an international symbol of Russia’s human rights and rule-of-law failings.
According to Professor David M. Crane, who specializes in international criminal and humanitarian law at Syracuse University College of Law in the United States, the proceedings against Magnitsky are highly unusual.
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U.S. Petition On Russian Lawmakers Gains Support
More than 32,000 electronic signatures have been added to an online petition urging the U.S. government to impose sanctions on Russian lawmakers supporting a bill that would ban the adoption of Russian children by Americans.
The petition urges the White House to add the names of legistlators supporting the bill to the list of Russians facing sanctions under the recently adopted Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act.
The White House promises to respond to all petitions that gather more than 25,000 signatures within 30 days of being posted. However, the president is not obligated to take any action.
The petition is being actively promoted on Russian social media sites, and almost all the signatures most likely are those of Russian citizens.
Activist Mikhail Shneider wrote on his Facebook page earlier on December 23:
“The signatures mean that the president is obliged to accept any petition that is signed by at least 25,000 people in 30 days. We have gathered that many in one day…. We continue collecting. There are 40,320 minutes until January 20 [when 30 days expires]. We are now gathering between 30 and 35 signatures a minute. By January 20, we could collect more than 1 million signatures.”
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U.S. Senate Lifts Russia, Moldova Trade Barriers; Passes Magnitsky Sanctions
The U.S. Senate has voted to permanently lift Cold War-era barriers to trade with Russia, a move long sought by Moscow that could increase commerce between the countries by billions of dollars.
In the same vote, senators also voted to sanction Russian officials implicated in the death of anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and in other perceived gross rights violations in Russia.
Moscow has railed against that move, which has overshadowed the trade benefits to come.
The Senate’s 92-4 vote follows the passing of the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives in November. U.S. President Barack Obama is now expected to sign it into law.
When he does, Moscow will be exempted from the 1974 Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which imposed trade restrictions on the Soviet Union for its policy of limiting Jewish emigration. The restrictions have been waived for nearly two decades, but remained on the books as a symbol of U.S. objections to Russia’s human rights record.
Citing the weak U.S. economy, the White House had pushed Congress to lift the restrictions and grant Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status to Russia, the world’s seventh largest economy.
The move allows the United States to take full advantage of Moscow’s August entry into the World Trade Organization, which China and Europe have already benefited from.
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U.S. Senate To Vote On Key Russian Trade Bill
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote later on December 6 on legislation that would end Cold War-era restrictions on trade with Russia and Moldova but also impose sanctions on alleged human rights violators in Russia.
Last month, the House of Representatives approved the legislation, which grants “permanent normal trade relations” to Moscow. That would allow U.S. companies to take advantage of the benefits from Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization in August.
But the legislation also requires the United States to freeze assets and deny visas to Russian officials implicated in the death of anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and in other perceived gross violations of human rights.
Magnitsky died in torturous prison conditions in 2009 after exposing a massive fraud scheme.
On the eve of the vote, senators debated the bill.
Many argued that passage of the Magnitsky Act would provide the United States with a powerful tool to advance human rights in Russia.
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Magnitsky Supporters Make Final Push Before U.S. Vote
Supporters of the late Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky made a final push ahead of a U.S. vote set for November 16 that would move toward sanctioning officials implicated in his death.
Senator Benjamin Cardin and William Browder, Magnitsky’s former employer, were among those advocating passage of the legislation at a November 15 hearing of the U.S. Congress’s Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.
Magnitsky died in harsh prison conditions in 2009 after implicating Russian officials in a scheme to defraud the government.
The House of Representatives bill would deny visas to and freeze the U.S. assets of implicated officials.
It has been joined to legislation that would grant Moscow permanent normal trade relations with Washington.
The measure is expected to pass, after which it would then need Senate approval.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on November 15 that Moscow will have a “tough” response if the bill is adopted. unshaven girl hairy woman https://zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/get-a-next-business-day-payday-loan.php займы на карту срочно
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