The Russian police were ordered to investigate why 103 billion rubles paid by VTB bank to the city for a 46.68% stake in the Bank of Moscow failed to end up in the city budget, former CEO of Bank of Moscow Andrei Borodin said on Wednesday.
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TALLINN, October 23 (Itar-Tass) — Estonian prosecutors denied opening a criminal case against former Bank of Moscow president Andrei Borodin.
“A representative of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office was in Estonia with inquiry regarding legal assistance. We do not comment on the contents of the inquiry, but I can confirm that Estonia has not opened a criminal case against Borodin,” Public Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Katrin Lunt told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry’s investigation department said criminal proceedings had been opened against Borodin in Estonia.
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The lawyer of ex Bank of Moscow chief Andrei Borodin believes that his client’s property might have been arrested in connection with the probe into the facts stated in the Anatomy of Protest-2 film.
Lawyer Vladimir Krasnov reminded that Borodin is mentioned in the film as an Opposition sponsor. Following a check into the firm, the authorities opened criminal proceedings over organization of mass disturbances.
Krasnov noted that the criminal prosecution of his client had been politically-motivated from the beginning. “At present, an opportunity has presented itself to arraign him on suspicion of funding a government overthrow,” the lawyer told Echo Moscow radio.
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Ex-Bank of Moscow President Andrei Borodin has called absurd his alleged financial backing of the Russian opposition in its plans to seize power. The presumption was made in the Anatomy of Protest 2 film aired by the NTV channel.
“The film claimed I sponsor the Russian opposition for illegal and/or non-democratic taking of power. That is a lie,” says a Borodin statement obtained by Interfax on Tuesday.
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BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union
Former chairman of the Bank of Moscow Andrey Borodin has described claims made in the “Anatomy of Protest 2” documentary shown on the Gazprom-owned NTV channel on 5 October that he is funding the opposition movement in Russia that is seeking to overthrow the authorities as a lie. In a statement quoted by Interfax news agency on 9 October, he said: “That film claimed that I provide financial assistance to the opposition movement in Russia for the purpose of an unlawful and(or) undemocratic seizure of power in the country. It is a lie.”
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Allegations of support of political opposition are “absurd”
Andrei Borodin, until recently a major shareholder and president of the Bank of Moscow, one of Russia’s most successful bank, has lashed out at the state-run NTV station alleging that he is being prosecuted.
Last Friday a program called “Anatomy of protest – 2” was aired on the Russian government TV channel, NTV. The program suggests that he offered financial support for a Russian political opposition movement to seek a change of government using unlawful and undemocratic means. “The allegation is untrue”, said Borodin, adding that “I have never advocated or believed in the use of unlawful or undemocratic methods for pursuing political change. The absurd suggestion that the opposition and its sponsors intend to seize power by force in Russia serves the interests of the government that owns NTV and pays its employees.”
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Russian opposition blogger Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and the British-based Russia Studies Centre at the Henry Jackson Society published a criticizing report on VTB Group practices, which is the second in asset amount and client funds financial group in Russia with Russian government as its major shareholder.
VTB responded that the report was made-to-order and said that the corruption should be looked for among the authors of the report.
The authors of the document present a detailed list of the facts that in their opinion are indicative of the “mismanagement and questionable business practices by the VTB Group, and specifically VTB Bank.” (more…)
Will the Attorney General betray confidentiality?
Russian investors and local business service providers are growing increasingly worried that Cyprus’ eagerness to satisfy the Kremlin’s demands for lifting of confidentiality in exchange for a multi-billion euro bailout could jeopardise the island’s reputation as a leading financial services centre.
Recent developments involving Russian-interest companies in Cyprus and the authorities’ willingness to hand over confidential information about shareholders, directors and their assets to the government in Moscow suggest that the current administration’s relations with the Kremlin are much closer than anticipated.
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