Moscow: "My country, my city, my bank" and "On top of the financial market"
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Deposit Insurance Corruption Scandal
The first major corruption scandal has begun in the Deposit Insurance Agency. Leading specialist at the agency Vasily Bednin, who has been involved in the liquidation of dozens of commercial banks in the last two years, has been taken into custody on charges of embezzlement. A court did not give investigators a warrant for his arrest, however, and the DIA says that he is the victim of a conspiracy.
The case against Bednin began when chairman of the Veteran Organization of handicapped army veterans Leonid Popov and Boris Sokalsky, that organization's representative in Centurion Bank, filed a statement. Veteran is both the owner and largest creditor of Centurion Bank, from which the Central Bank withdrew the license in August 2006. A Moscow court ruled that the bank be liquidated and Bednin was appointed receiver of the bank.
“Veteran made a written request to be placed on the list of creditors,” Popov told Kommersant. “He stated that part of our assets had to be sacrificed in order to be placed on the list.”
Bednin has refused to speak to investigators, citing the 51st article of the Russian Constitution, giving the right not to testify against oneself. Investigators, who followed the course of Bednin's negotiations with the representatives of Veteran, say that they have sufficient evidence to charge him under article 204, part 4, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Commercial Bribery with Extortion”), punishable by five to tens years' imprisonment.
The court released Bednin and allowed him to continue to work at the DIA. The sides have traded recriminations, with Popov saying that Bednin maintained his freedom by threatening to expose corruption at higher levels and the DIA issuing a press release calling Bednin one of the agency's best employees and saying that Sokalsky is the hidden owner of a number of banks, including Centurion, that have been closed for money laundering.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 15, 2007
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