Translated material
"Shuvalovs" is transferred to the USA and Britain
The Russian BBC service reports on the further development of the situation around Igor Shuvalov and his wife. After the Prosecutor General’s refusal, the so -called “Shuvalov case” is transferred to law enforcement agencies of the United States and Great Britain:
A fragment of the Decree of the Prosecutor General's Office to refuse to investigate the Shuvalov family transactions with Russian billionaires
The Prosecutor General of Russia on Friday officially notified that she did not find signs of corruption in a loud scandal about the business of the family of the first deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov with Russian billionaires.
The initiators of the audit are counting on an international investigation: documents on transactions are transferred to the American FBI and the British Bureau for Combating Fraud.
“As a result of the audit, information about the presence of corruption manifestations was not confirmed,” the official response of the Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Corruption, which has at the disposal of the Russian BBC service, says there are no grounds for the Prosecutor General of Prosecutor's Office of the prosecutor’s response measures. ”
The prosecutors conducted a check on the fact of the publication in the American publication Barron's Online, which reported in December 2011 with reference to confidential documents that Olga Shuvalova, the wife of the First Deputy Prime Minister, is engaged in commerce with Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov and Evgeny Shvidler-a trusted person Roman Abramovich.
Earlier, the prosecutor’s office did not check foreign publications on the alleged corruption in Russia.
Earn 70 million
A statement to the prosecutor was submitted by Natalya Pelevina, who was living in New York, a Russian citizen who organized the “Committee for Democratic Russia” in the United States.
Shuvalov does not see a conflict of interest in the fact that his wife is engaged in commerce with billionaires, whose work he oversees the government.
The human rights activist provided the prosecutor with copies of contracts and payment documents, from which it followed that Olga Shuvalova received 50 million dollars through the Offshore company SEVENKEY through the Obramovich’s structures in 2004, then lent their company Usmanov and earned about $ 70 million, which amounted to about 40% of the annual.
From these documents available to the Russian BBC service, it follows that the Bahamas Sevenkey since 2001 belonged to Shuvalov, who, after receiving in 1997, created a company uniting various offshores to manage his assets. Later, his wife Olga became the beneficiary of Sevenkey.
Alisher Usmanov himself confirmed Bloomberg earlier, which really attracted in 2004 the investment of the wife of the Deputy Prime Minister, who oversees the investment climate in the country, for acquiring a 13% of the British company Corus Steel in 2004. Neither Igor Shuvalov himself, nor the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office questioned the authenticity of the documents provided by Pelevina.
Continuation in the USA and Britain
The Russian official himself and his representative emphasized that the property of Shuvalov and his family was openly declared, taxes are paid from him, it is managed in accordance with Russian law.
"The funds that I have earned as an entrepreneur, and which are now in trust management, are the basis of my independence from various groups of influence in my adoption of official decisions," Shuvalov said earlier. His representatives argued that the Prosecutor General did not find violations long before she announced the results of the audit.
Natalia Pelevina by the explanations of a senior official and prosecutor's office is not satisfied. "Even if he reported, even if he paid taxes, it is a funny explanation from the point of view of Western practice. I paid taxes with illegal activity. Here I, say, sell drugs and pay taxes - is this normal, it turns out?" She explained her position to the Russian service to the Russian service.
Pelevina says that he will appeal the decision of the Prosecutor General in the Tver court in the near future. But the most important thing, according to her, is that she goes to London and hopes to interest the documents of the British Bureau for Combating Fraud on Pollates (Serious Fraud Office - SFO). “I will meet there with members of parliament, which are not indifferent to this topic,” she says. In addition, transactions were transferred two months ago to the FBI.
"Hope is for a normal, honest decision and further actions in America and England, because these departments there are not controlled by power structures, unlike Russia," says Natalya Pelevina.
Law enforcement agencies of Britain and the USA were not chosen by chance. "Mr. Evgeny Shvidler, representing the interests of Abramovich, has American citizenship. Usmanov - a resident of Britain, Abramovich - also," Polevina explains. In addition, Usmanov’s shares are traded in London and New York, extensive business interests in the USA and Britain and with Abramovich.
Conspiracy or fight against corruption
The disclosure of information about the Shuvalov family business, some representatives of the Russian establishment are explained by the custom campaign against the young and successful first deputy prime minister, who is considered a supporter of liberal economic policy. This was directly announced, in particular, the former head of the administration of the President of Russia, Alexander Voloshin, who now oversees the creation of an international financial center in Moscow.
“This is not a subcutaneous game, and I have nothing to do with it. I don’t know anyone who may participate in it,” Natalya Pelevina said. According to her, she "as a citizen of the Russian Federation submitted these documents with the aim of an investigation to be conducted." “If someone tries to use this, this is their personal business,” she explains. “It’s a shame that all this boils down to the subcutaneous struggle for the chair, because we act honestly, for the good of the Russian people who have the right to know who is in power, what kind of people are, and how they use this power.”
An important question for many is who and why granted the press to the press is not completely clear. The managing partner of Alm Feldmans, Artem Dymskoy said that it was a former lawyer of the First Deputy Prime Minister and a colleague for the bureau Pavel Ivlev, a defendant in the second case of Yukos, who left Russia in 2004.
Dymskaya called the information about the Shuvalov family transactions "distorting" and "revenge". In fact, he claims, "he did not accept any state official of participation in this transaction" and "we are talking about the completely normal activity of the fund," the beneficiary of which is Olga Shuvalova. The bureau, promised Dymskaya, will turn to the Russian Law Chamber demanding that Ivlev deprive the status of a lawyer.
Ivlev himself responded with an open letter in which he did not admit directly that he revealed the sources of Igor Shuvalov’s income, but explained that he had the right to do this. According to him, this is “there is no violation of the lawyer secret,” since neither Igor Shuvalov nor Olga Shuvalova were his principals.
But the main reason Ivlev is indicated by the rule of law and morality in the profession of a lawyer over the will of the principal. “I hope that the public discussion by the media of the sources of income of a senior public servant, the first deputy prime minister of the country, will assist the lawfulness and law and order in Russia,” he concludes.
Natalya Pelevina says that she counts on interaction with law enforcement agencies outside Russia. “This is what they are most afraid of, because they cannot control it there,” she says, emphasizing that the whole life of the defendants in the scandal is actually connected with the West. “And therefore, they do not want this to turn into an international investigation. But this is what we will try to achieve,” the human rights activist concludes.
Russian wrestlers with corruption suggest that Olga Shuvalova’s income, which she received from business with entrepreneurs among the richest Russians, could affect decisions that her husband made on duty.
So, in particular, in 2006, Shuvalov spoke out that Abraz Abramovich was controlled by most Russian metallurgical companies.
And in 2009, the commission, headed by Shuvalov, decided that Russia would be a guarantor of a loan of $ 1 billion, which VTB Bank will provide Metalloinvest Alisher Usmanov.
Representatives of the Russian Deputy Prime Minister insisted that there was no violation of the law here, and Shuvalov simply does his job. Russian law does not really prohibit officials to do business, which they use - according to income declarations, many officials' wives are very successful in the field of commerce, earning many times more of their husbands.