Translated material
Diplomatic import
Foreign embassies suspected of excessive consumption of computers
The Moscow-Smolensk Transport Prosecutor's Office has completed an investigation into a criminal case of smuggling, which last spring almost caused a diplomatic scandal with several foreign countries. As it turned out, a group of businessmen managed to arrange the supply of large quantities of electronics and office equipment under the guise of goods necessary for the work of diplomatic missions.According to investigators, smugglers, taking advantage of connections in the embassies of a number of African countries and acting on their behalf, not only received the customs benefits required in this case, but also underestimated the cost of the goods, and also changed their assortment, trying to get maximum profit. Now the four Russians arrested in this case have been charged with smuggling committed by an organized group. Embassy workers whose names appear in the case, under the guise of their diplomatic status, declared their non-involvement in this story.
According to official reports from the FSB and customs, the smugglers attracted the attention of employees of the Main Directorate for Combating Smuggling (GUBK) of the FCS back in January 2005. The operatives were alarmed by the obvious discrepancy between the size of the consignments of goods and the number of employees of the diplomatic missions for which they were supposedly intended. The amount of imported office equipment, computers, and sometimes banal consumer goods clearly exceeded the needs of small diplomatic missions. Having tracked two such shipments, the cost of each of which was more than 3 million rubles, customs officers realized that they were dealing with smuggling.
The final phase of the operation took place in May 2006. Having traced a consignment of goods from the United States, allegedly intended for the Nigerian Embassy, employees of the State Budgetary Inspectorate, together with the “K” Directorate of the FSB Economic Security Service, detained it at commercial warehouses owned by two companies. The list of those seized included LCD monitors, printers, laptops, and other office equipment - a total of 3.2 million rubles. All this, as the plenipotentiary ambassador of Nigeria with the rank of minister, Mr. Nwaozamudoh, told the customs officers, was intended exclusively for the embassy. However, customs officers refused to return the cargo. By this time, they had already established that the delivery was actually organized by four Russian citizens, who a month earlier were able to “smuggle” a similar consignment of goods through customs. Then the cargo was sent under the same diplomatic cover from the British Virgin Islands, and the recipient was the Angolan Embassy.
As investigators found out, Soma Somai, a Russian citizen who worked as a lawyer at the embassy, was listed as the executor of that delivery under a power of attorney signed by Angola’s temporary charge in Russia, Mr. Pedro. Together with him, three of his partners were detained and later arrested;
According to investigators, natives of African countries Traore Mamadou and Soma Somai, who once studied at the Peoples' Friendship University, but long ago settled in Moscow and received Russian citizenship, used their connections in the embassies of African states and organized the diplomatic cover documents necessary for supplies. Thanks to such papers, they could import fairly large quantities of any goods without duties or inspections. As a rule, goods that come to Russia for the needs of embassies and consulates enjoy customs benefits, and their inspection is carried out according to a simplified procedure. But even at the same time, as customs officers found out, the cost of the goods indicated in the accompanying documents was underestimated by smugglers in some cases by almost ten times. The goods were always cleared at the Butovo customs post. The goods, according to the prosecutor's office, were to be sold through the companies where Mamadou, Ovsyannikov and Kochiev worked.
It is noteworthy that on May 24, a few days after the arrest of all four organizers of smuggling deliveries, customs received documents for two more consignments of goods in which the accused were listed as executors of the transactions. Moreover, this time the Kuwaiti Embassy was involved in the case, and the containers contained souvenirs, clothes and carpets. In this regard, in addition to charges of smuggling that had already taken place, the detainees were also charged with two counts of attempted smuggling. As for the foreign embassies involved in this story, having learned about the arrest of the businessmen, they hastened to disown the ill-fated cargo. But all foreign participants in the story avoided giving explanations, just in case, taking advantage of their diplomatic status.