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Friday, 01.04.2011
Putin and friends: Opposition complains about corruption
Moscow. Putin's harshest critics produced a new pamphlet with the simple name "Putin corruption", that brings to light the steep rise in business of persons closely related to Putin.
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Close friends, relatives and dacha neighbours, these are, according to the authors, the main beneficiaries of the Putin era. Its main characteristic is primarily the tremendous flourishing corruption in the country which increased enormously since the so called chaotic Yeltsin years.
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Many African countries could be a model
In the last 16 years, Russia dropped from rank 46 to rank 154 in the international corruption rating of "Transparency International" and is now on the same level as "the least developed African states" such as Congo and Guinea-Bissau.
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While in the 90s the payment of $90,000 for publishing a book was able to bring upon a governmental chrises for some cabinet ministers, today, reports about officials owning billionaire mansions or the one million dollar watch belonging to Moscow's vice-mayor Ressler, don't even call for an investigation.
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As, according to a Russian proverb "fish rots from the head down", co-authors Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Ryzhkov and Vladimir Milov concentrated in their work mainly on the personal environment of ex-President and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
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Putin's neighbourhood is on golden ground
They find particularly noteworthy the rise of the members of the dacha corporation "Osero" that was founded in 1996 placed near an idyllic lake in the Leningrad region. One of the founding members was Putin, who moved from the St Petersburg city administration to the Moscow Dumas this year.
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Two further members, the entrepreneur Yuri Kovaltchuk and Nikolai Shamalov are now major shareholders in the St Petersburg bamk "Rossija". Then, it was one of hundreds of small banks in Russia and is now placed on rank 19 after capitalisation.
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Accusation: Gazprom serves as a self service shop
According to the authors, the bank, as well as its owners benefitted hugely from a far below the official price transaction of stocks from the Gazprom empire between the years of 2004 and 2007. The insurance company Sogas, the pension fund Gasfond, Gazprom bank and the media holding Gazprom-Media are under the control of "Rossija", or more to the point Putin's dacha neighbours. Overall, the authors of the report claim, that from the property of the state-owned company assets in the amount of $60 billion had been outsourced.
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Putin's nepotism
Not only neighbours, even relatives are profeting: According to the report, Putin's nephew, second-degree, Mikhail Shelomov owns now 3.9 percent of Rossija, as well as 12.5 percent of Soga shares. A further nephew, Mikhail Putin is deputy director of Sogas.
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Chairman of the Railway, Chairman of football and a Minister
Three further founders of the dacha cooperative Osero climed the ladder of success during the Putin years. Vladimir Jakunin first of all became Vice-Minister of Railways and was promoted to Chairman of RZD, one of the largest Russian companies.
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Sergej Fursenko is head of Rossija Media Holding "NMG" (Ren-TV, Isvestia) as well as Chairman of the Russian Football Union, his brother Andrej Fursenko is Education Minister since 2004.
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The Judo connection
The report also describes the immense rise of the oil trader Gennadi Timchenko, who engineered together with then vice mayor Putin the first oil export business, which was later under suspition.
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Tichenko emigrated to Finland in 1999 which did not harm the flourishing of his business in Russia. The Head of today's "Gunvor Group" is taxed on property in an estimated value of $8.9 billion - thanks to excellent business contacts with the state controlled oil company Rosneft and Gazpromneft.
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Timchenko is incidently a founding member of the Judo Club "Javara-Neva" (Putin being honorary president), whose Chairman is no other than the businessman Arkadi Rotenberg. Together with his brother Boris they were Putin's sparring partners in the 1960s. The Rotenbergs are also billionaires today - they also received a slice of the neverending Gazprom cake: they were handed the Gazprom construction business for a low price.
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The Group "Stroigazmontsh" receives now dozens of doped Gazprom orders for the construction of gas pipelines and is Gazproms largest supplier of gas pipes.
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The corruption report elaborates also about yachts, mansions and luxury watches that the Russian head of state endulge in.
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Medvedev, friend of suspiciously luxury watches
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Even Putin's protege and successor, Dmitri Medvedev stays not free from attack.The former Gazprom chairman and his wife also seem to have a source for precious chronometers around the $30,000 class that cannot be explained with the official President income.
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The result of Medvedev's campaign to combat corruption, that he proclaimed when he took office, is according to the authors "nil if not negative".
Original German text can be found here >>>
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