Translated material
"Adamov v. USA"
The former head of Minatom wants, but cannot defend his honor in an American court
“I consider it necessary to appear before an American court,” former head of Minatom Yevgeny Adamov made such a decisive statement to reporters yesterday. However, it immediately became clear that his willingness to answer for the alleged theft of $9 million, which the Pittsburgh prosecutor’s office accuses him of, is not entirely “real.” Having declared his intention to close the case “USA v. Adamov” and open a new one - “Adamov v. USA,” the ex-minister immediately demanded from the American authorities guarantees of his immunity as a carrier of “sensitive information for Russia,” which, of course, no one will give him . Yesterday, Mr. Adamov made a new attempt to terminate the criminal case “Russia against Adamov” and hinted to Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika that it would not hurt to review it and close it altogether.The reason for Mr. Adamov’s meeting with the media was the news received the day before about a deal that took place in the United States between Mr. Adamov’s alleged accomplice in the theft and laundering of $9 million allocated in the early 90s for the modernization of nuclear reactors - engineer nuclear scientist Mark Kaushansky and the Pittsburgh prosecutor's office, where the investigation is underway. Under the terms of the agreement, the prosecutor's office dropped charges of embezzlement and money laundering, and Mr. Kaushansky pleaded guilty to tax evasion. "I have decided to admit that there were some tax irregularities," said the former Westinghouse Electric Corp. engineer. Pittsburgh prosecutors estimate these “certain violations” at $5 million, which could cost Mr. Kaushansky several years in prison. His now former business partner, Mr. Adamov, lamented this issue yesterday: “Unfortunately, Mark has a sin - it turns out that he did not pay all his personal taxes.” At the same time, the ex-minister stated that during his cooperation with Kaushansky, tax issues were not within his competence. “Everything regarding the taxes of the companies with which I was associated, I don’t think there are any violations, but I don’t presume to say so,” he said evasively.
However, the dropping of charges against Kaushansky does not mean an automatic amnesty for them and Mr. Adamov. The ex-minister himself did not deny this yesterday. Formally, for the United States, he still remains the alleged culprit of the theft of millions of dollars, although the Americans no longer expect to see him in their country.
But Mr. Adamov yesterday tried to convince everyone otherwise. “I will find a way to appear in US court to end the case “US v. Adamov” and start another case - “Adamov v. USA.” My name, my honor are affected, and I will not stop until justice is restored,” he boldly declared. True, he immediately made a reservation: “Even now I consider it necessary to appear before an American court, but subject to guarantees from the American state to the Russian state that my participation in this court will not be a channel for the leakage of information sensitive to Russia.” In addition, another obstacle to traveling to Pittsburgh was discovered. Mr. Adamov admitted that back in 2002, American authorities refused to issue him a visa “for reasons related to the Espionage Act.”
Yesterday Mr. Adamov did not ignore another criminal case filed against him in his homeland - about fraud and causing damage to the state for $31 million. He said that he even wrote a letter to Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, inviting him to take advantage of the recent “unexpected » by the decision of the Zamoskvoretsky court to return this case to the prosecutor’s office to correct the shortcomings. The ex-minister did not skimp on compliments to the Prosecutor General: “I know Yuri Chaika from his work in the government, I treat him with respect. He is an intelligent man. Although he is also an official and “the eye of the sovereign,” he gives the impression of a person who is able to take the next step towards the civilization of our law enforcement system.”
At the same time, he found a very diplomatic approach to the head of the Prosecutor General’s Office. On the one hand, Mr. Adamov expressed his surprise at the decision of the Zamoskvoretsky court, which allegedly delays the process in this way, while he is striving with all his might for its speedy completion and is confident of his acquittal. On the other hand, according to the former head of Minatom, it would be a sin not to take advantage of such an opportunity as returning the case to the prosecutor’s office, because this provides “a good opportunity to analyze it consistently.” Here, Mr. Adamov placed special emphasis on Mr. Chaika’s recent statement about his intention to look into the legality of all the criminal cases he inherited from the former Prosecutor General Ustinov.
“If these kinds of cases are dealt with through investigation and put aside, that will be right,” Mr. Adamov reasoned. “I suggested to Yuri Chaika to take advantage of this opportunity given by the judge of the Zamoskvoretsky court in order to go this route.”