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Is Frenkel True Mastermind of Kozlov’s Killing?
Moscow Basmanny Court is expected to decide today on detention of Alexey Frenkel, former board chairman at VIP Bank. VIP Bank was stripped of the license and Frenkel is suspected of having ordered to kill Andrey Kozlov, then the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia.
The late first deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, Andrey Kozlov was killed September 13, 2006. The top-ranked banker was shot when leaving Spartak Stadium, where the CBR employees had played football. Kozlov was taken to hospital, where he died without regaining consciousness.
The business community of Russia is by far not unanimous when responding to the news. Some say the prosecutors wouldn’t have presented charges with no grounds, while others harbor the doubts.
“The attitude of the bank community to A. Frenkel was rather apprehensive,” said Garegin Tosunyan, chief of the Association of Russian Banks. Anything may happen in this world and enforcement bodies don’t accuse without reasons, the official specified.
Alexey Mamontov, who is the president of Moscow International Currency Association, is of different opinion. “I don’t believe in Frenkel’s involvement in the murder case of the CBR deputy chairman,” Mamontov told RBC. The crime had been hardly arranged by a person tied to the bank community, and participation of “such public figure as Frenkel” is mostly unlikely, the official said.
Frenkel managed to retain all his business and the talks of the alleged losses caused by Kozlov’s activities were mere exaggeration, Mamontov emphasized, adding that the story of Frenkel’s involvement suits those willing to get the carte blanche for another crackdown on the bank community.
The root cause of the crime was not the revenge or some preventing actions of bankers, but rather corruption in the Central Bank of Russia and in some other departments committed to fight laundering of criminal money, Mamontov pointed out.
www.kommersant.com
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