Posts Tagged ‘what the papers say’
Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika Under Orders to Focus Attention on the Notorius Magnitsky Case
WPS: What the Papers Say
Two criminal proceedings are associated with Magnitsky, lawyer in the employ of Hermitage Capital Management who died behind the bars. One of them concerns criminal charges pressed against Magnitsky himself, the investigation is carried out by the Interior Ministry’s Investigative Committee. The other deals with circumstances of his demise in prison, investigated by the Russian Investigative Committee. The Prosecutor General’s Office is supposed to run a check on both investigations.
It should be noted that the Prosecutor General’s Office completed examination of the former criminal proceedings on the request from the Russian Investigative Committee earlier this week. It said it had uncovered no violations. Three days later, Medvedev told Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika to “boost procuracy supervision” and run another check. Meeting with his American counterpart Barack Obama last week, the president had been reminded of the importance the U.S. Administration was attaching to impartial investigation of the lawyer’s death.
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights Michael H. Pozner made a statement in the meantime. He said that the U.S. Administration welcomed the judiciary reforms and reorganization of law enforcement agencies launched in Russia but was distressed by the lack of progress in the investigation of Magnitsky’s death.
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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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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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