Agency WPS
What the Papers Say Part B (Russia)
June 8, 2006 Thursday
ARRESTING GOVERNORS AND SENATORS: A WAR OR A SPECIAL OPERATION?
by Maria Rogacheva, Alexander Sazonov, Valery Kornev
A review of corruption allegations against senior state officials; On
June 6, former prosecutor general Vladimir Ustinov said his goodbyes
to his subordinates. Meanwhile, the anti-corruption campaign is
expanding inexorably. News reports from the regions and the
Federation Council resemble reports from battlefields.
On June 6, former prosecutor general Vladimir Ustinov said his
goodbyes to his subordinates. Meanwhile, the anti-corruption campaign
– launched by the president, not the prosecutor general – is
expanding inexorably. News reports from the regions and the
Federation Council resemble reports from battlefields. Charges have
been issued against a group of Federal Customs Service officials,
Governor Alexei Barinov of the Nenets autonomous district, and
Volgograd Mayor Yevgeny Ishchenko. They may be joined by Levon
Chakhmakhchyan, Federation Council member for Kalmykia. New details
about their extravagant lifestyles and extraneous business activities
surprise the public every day. Russia’s political elite is bracing
itself for further revelations and high-profile dismissals in bodies
including the federal government. The elite senses that this war on
corruption is serious and set to last a long time.
Mayor buys a yacht for himself and a fountain for the city
Reports yesterday listed assets allegedly acquired by Volgograd Mayor
Yevgeny Ishchenko. The list is based on a property division lawsuit
filed by Ishchenko’s common law wife, Yevgenia Att. She denies
writing the document.
Nevertheless, according to our source at the Volgograd regional
prosecutor’s office, shortly before his arrest Ishchenko was
negotiating to buy an island in the Maldives. He planned to build a
hotel and entertainment center there. He didn’t have time to complete
those negotiations, but he did spend 3 million euros on a yacht,
which is in the port of Monaco. The yacht’s official owner is a
company described by prosecutors as a dummy company. Also registered
is a luxury dacha property, built on the site of a children’s
sanatorium. Realtors estimate that a 200-square-meter apartment in
central Volgograd is currently worth 8-10 million rubles, or up to 15
million if it’s in good condition.
According to the municipal administration, the mayor’s official
salary was 50,000 rubles per month. Still, Ishchenko wasn’t greedy.
In autumn 2005, he made a gift to the city: a fountain called “He and
She,” imported from Italy. It was announced that Ishchenko had paid
for the fountain himself. The value of the gift was never stated.
Around the same time, there were renewed rumors in Volgograd that
Ishchenko and Att planned to marry.
Senator burned by a case full of dollars
The case of Levon Chakhmachyan, Federation Council member for
Kalmykia, is developing rapidly. On June 3, Federation Council
Speaker Sergei Mironov sent the regional legislature of Kalmykia an
instruction to recall Chakhmachyan.
At first, representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office said
that Chakhmachyan was simply present at detention of Igor Arushanov,
chief accountant of the Association of Russian-Armenian Business
Cooperation. A sum of $300,000 marked with special paint was
confiscated from Arushanov. According to the Prosecutor General’s
Office, Arushanov and Chakhmachyan’s son-in-law Armen Oganesyan who
was also detained demanded $1.5 million from head of Transaero
Alexander Pleshakov for deleting negative information from the
Auditing Chamber’s audit report. Auditing Chamber Chairman Sergei
Stepashin explained that three weeks ago Pleshakov reported to him
about address of representatives of the Auditing Chamber through
intermediaries. Inspection was underway in Transaero then and
Pleshakov was offered to change the final report in his favor for
$1.5 million. After the meeting with Pleshakov, Stepashin approached
Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Nikolai Patrushev. Arushanov
and Oganesyan were soon arrested on fraud charges.
Yesterday, acting Prosecutor General Yury Biryukov requested the
Supreme Court to decide whether there is evidence of similar crimes
in the actions of Levon Chakhmachyan. Sources in the Federation
Council say that Chakhmachyan may be arrested as soon as June 23. The
procedure for recalling him from the Federation Council is planned
for that day.
The anti-corruption campaign is also gaining pace in Khakassia. Law
enforcement agency officials from Moscow have arrived in that region.
A few days later criminal proceedings were instituted against Vasily
Tsyganok, former senior deputy to Governor Alexei Lebed. The criminal
proceedings were instituted according to the fact of taking of a
bribe worth 717,000 rubles in the form of property benefit.
Renovations to Tsyganok’s apartment cost a similar sum.
According to available information, hard times begin for Lebed. To
forestall them Lebed gathered a press conference and called on the
Prosecutor General’s office to prevent criminals from evading
punishment.
One of the most prominent scandals related to corruption in the
law-enforcement agencies reached its conclusion in the Lefortovo
detention center, at a hearing of the Moscow military court.
Pleadings began on Monday in the criminal affair against General of
the Emergency Situations Ministry Vladimir Ganeev and six senior
officers of the Moscow criminal police (Yury Samolkin, Yevgeny
Taratorin, Nikolai Demin, Igor Ostrovsky, Vadim Vladimirov and
Alexander Breshanov). All of them are accused of a series of gross
crimes including organization of a criminal group with use of service
positions, service power embezzlement with use of violence and
extortion. According to documents of the criminal case, expensive
cars and houses in Russia and abroad were bought with money obtained
by a criminal way. About $3 million was confiscated from the bank
safes. The accused were arrested in June of 2003. Legal proceedings
have lasted for 18 months and about 100 people were interrogated as
witnesses and victims. For some of the crimes the accused may be put
into prison for ten to twenty years.
Source: Izvestia, June 8, 2006, p. 3
Translated by Pavel Pushkin