DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON FOR DEFAULT

FINANCE

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, This appeal is caused by concern about the situation that has developed in the banking sector of Russia, which, in our opinion, is rapidly deteriorating, acquiring the character of a crisis. It is obvious that the deputies...

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!

This appeal is caused by concern about the situation in the banking sector in Russia, which, in our opinion, is rapidly deteriorating, acquiring the character of a crisis.

It is obvious that the deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the third convocation, having approved in April 2002 the “builder” of the GKO pyramid and one of the organizers of the 1998 default Andrei Kozlov for the post of first deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia, made a serious mistake.

Therefore, today, being witnesses of another banking crisis, the likely organizer of which is the same Andrey Kozlov, we cannot stand aside.

Analyzing the causes of the current crisis situation, it is not difficult to come to the conclusion that there were no weighty arguments and objective economic factors for its occurrence. The work of the entire banking system has been destabilized by incompetent or deliberate actions of official representatives of the Central Bank of Russia.

Thus, the appearance in April 2004 among banking analysts of information that the Central Bank of Russia imposed restrictive sanctions against Sodbiznesbank (a ban for a period of 6 months on operations to raise funds on deposits of individuals and operations on the purchase and sale of foreign currency) , seriously alarmed the professional participants of the banking market.

It should be noted that when ordinary citizens, guided by the broad advertising of Sodbiznesbank, continued to carry their savings to the bank, the leadership of the Central Bank of Russia did not provide their comments on this matter. Thousands of enterprises that continued to use their accounts in this bank turned out to be just as defenseless against the irresponsibility of Andrey Kozlov.

Also, certain doubts arise regarding the validity and reasoning of Andrey Kozlov's decision on the need for such sanctions, since a few days later Sodbiznesbank easily achieved a judicial annulment of this decision.

The further development of the situation and the revocation of the bank's license sounded like a bolt from the blue, and Andrey Kozlov's two-week inaction to implement his own order to introduce external management and stubbornly ignoring the interests of the bank's depositors and clients created confusion not only among them, but also panic actions on throughout the Russian banking space.

At present, small and medium-sized banks are on the brink of survival, and large credit institutions are already experiencing serious difficulties in financing their customers, which in the near future may provoke a non-payment crisis.

As a result of this action, the former managers of the bank, allegedly involved in laundering criminal proceeds, most likely will not be held accountable, and thousands of bank depositors have already become real victims of banking supervision. In this regard, the question arises about the true motives that Andrey Kozlov was guided by in the situation with Sodbiznesbank, as well as in whose interests he uses the powers of banking supervision.

The answer to this question can be suggested by the fact that it was Andrey Kozlov, having earned the gratitude of the US Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow, who gave his consent to the opening of a Citibank exchange office with branch functions on the territory of the US Embassy, ​​without thinking about the difficulties of exercising control over the work of a banking institution, located on the territory of a foreign country.

We believe that the above facts should not be left without due attention, and we ask you to give instructions:

- the Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia to conduct an internal investigation into the activities of Andrei Kozlov as Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank and assess the appropriateness of the actions taken by him, which provoked a panic in the banking sector;

— the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation to consider the justification for terminating the investigation of criminal cases initiated by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation in connection with the financial crisis on August 17, 1998;

— to the Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation to assess the activities of Andrey Kozlov as Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank from the point of view of Russia's economic security.

Deputies of the State Duma

Kharchenko I.N., Leonov N.S.,

SOLOMATIN E.Yu.,

OVSYANNIKOV, VORONIN L.Yu.

COMMENTARY OF THE "NEW" ECONOMY DEPARTMENT

Calling Andrei Kozlov the initiator of the brewing banking crisis, the deputies did not discover America: it is simply impossible to disguise the role of this official in recent events. Moreover, from the moment he came to the post of first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, Andrey Kozlov constantly supported and promoted initiatives that should have led to the same consequences as now: the death of most small and medium-sized banks.

In particular, he spoke more than once about the need to revoke the license of credit institutions with a capital of less than five million euros. But this decision could not be pushed through. By provoking the crisis, Kozlov was one step closer to realizing his own vision of what Russia's banking system should be like. Of course, there is no evidence to suggest that he did it deliberately, and direct accusations against him would sound premature. But believing that everything happened because of Kozlov's incompetence is no easier.

Therefore, the question raised by the deputies about the true motives of his activities is quite legitimate, and the investigation of the work of the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, if it is carried out professionally and impartially, can lead to very interesting results.