ANOTHER SENATOR ARRESTED FOR TAKING BRIBES

Russia Blog
June 7 2006

Photo: Chahmahchyan getting ready for a well-deserved “vacation”

This week the parliament of Kalmyk region was asked to fire their
federal Senator Levon Chahmahchyan, so that the FSB could press charges
when he is no longer immune from prosecution. Among other crimes,
the Senator was caught carrying $300,000 cash out of the offices of
the local company “Transaero”, for whom he had been doing favors. The
hundred dollar bills were marked this time, and his suitcase was full
of them, stacked neatly just like in a Hollywood movie.

Senator Chahmahchyan is of Armenian origin. The Armenian mafia has
always been very powerful in Russia. Many Armenians are dominant
players in the construction business which is booming in major Russian
cities. Several Armenians are close business partners with Moscow Mayor
Luzhkov’s wife, who along with her husband has become a billionaire
during his term in office.

Chahmahchyan’s son in law is a senior official at the Russian Ministry
of Finance. When he was first caught, Chahmahchya joked that this
was just a political game between him and “Transaero” executives,
but later in the day his son in law was arrested as well.

The Senator had just been elected the day before as the new president
of the Russian Armenian Association.

The Governor of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, doesn’t want to get
involved in the criminal case. Ilyumzhinov “doesn’t feel sorry for
the Senator who got caught and thinks that the Federal Assembly knows
what it’s doing.” Governor Ilyumzhinov is quite a character himself;
he is a very stylish billionaire, who has ruled the state of Kalmykia
for a decade without worrying about the Russian Constitution, which
imposes term limits. The Governor fancies $5,000 neck ties, $20,000
suits, riding white horses, and playing chess – everyone in Kalmykia
is required to play chess.

Elsewhere in Russia, corruption is causing unrest in the city of
Perm. Yesterday the citizens rushed into the City Council building
with the mayor inside. These angry citizens are trying to cancel
construction in their state park, which started few days ago. The state
park near the city is the only public space where Perm citizens can
enjoy the outdoors and fresh air; however, the park was leased by the
city to a construction company which is fencing off a major part of
it for building multi-million dollar homes. The homebuilders’ clients
include the local judge, mayor, chief of police, general prosecutor,
the Orthodox priest and other respectable mafia leaders in the region.

Local conservationists tried to block development by filing a lawsuit,
however the future home-owner/judge decided that there was nothing
wrong with fencing off this piece of public property and building
on it. This has been done many times before in many other Russian
regions. Russia Blog wishes the best of luck to the citizens of Perm
and feels sorry for them.

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