Commerzbank Suspected of Russian Money Laundry
The scandal over one of Germany’s largest banks Commerzbank AG saw its continuation late last week. The Wall Street Journal reported that the German police suspected the bank of the involvement in the money laundry, telecommunication assets illegally acquired by Telecominvest, a giant of the Russian telecom market.
Telecominvest holding was set up in 1994. 59 percent of the holding is owned by Luxemburg’s First National Holding, 26 percent by TeliaSonera, and 15 percent Severo-Zapadny telecom. The total turnover of Telecominvest’s subsidiaries exceeded $2 billion in 2004. The holding’s major asset is MegaFon cell operator and many others. The Wall Street Journal reports that the police of Frankfurt conducted a search in Commerzbank’s headquarters to seize a number of documents. The investigation is said to concern a member of the bank’s board Andreas de Maziere and the bank’s former employee who worked with Eastern European countries Michael Nort, and five more bank’s former representative in the Eastern Europe in 1990s.
Sources mention Commerzbank’s connections with Russia’s Telecominvest as the cause of the probe. First National Holding, then owned by the bank, bought the Russian company’s 51 percent stake in November 1996. The Wall Street Journal maintains that the police suspect that while controlling Telecominvest Commerzbank carried out a scheme to “launder telecom assets” that Telecominvest had at its disposal, the state’s shares in attractive telecoms soon to come under the control of Svyazinvest.
Frankfurt police’s press service says that Michael Nort played a significant part in these schemes using a number of foundations under cover of Eurokapital GmbH & H company. The Prosecutor’s Office points to the fact that searches started simultaneously at the two companies where the same people – Michael Nort and Vadim Vinogradov – worked. When Commerzbank left FNH in 2001 and consequently was losing all links with Telecominvest, Com Tel Eastern off-shore fund, headed by Michael Nort, bought out its share in National First Holding. It is still unknown what links Nort had with de Mazier but the latter suddenly quitted Commerzbank “for personal reasons”, just when searches have started.
by
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 25, 2005
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