Musashi
12-04-2007, 07:04 AM
I have copied it from another forum
Unmasking President Putin's Grandiose Myth by Anders Aslund
The Moscow Times November 28, 2007
“…Everybody around Putin is completely corrupt…In February 2004, presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin named three men as Putin's bagmen, including Gennady Timchenko, the co-founder of the Gunvor oil-trading company. After Rybkin made this statement, he vanished from the political stage. In September, the Polish magazine Wprost wrote that Timchenko, a former KGB officer and member of Putin's dacha cooperative in St. Petersburg, has a net worth of $20 billion. Officially, Timchenko sells the oil of four Russian oil companies, but how are the prices determined to generate such profits?
In a sensational interview in Germany's Die Welt on Nov. 12, Stanislav Belkovsky, the well-connected insider who initiated the Kremlin campaign against Yukos in 2003, made specific claims about Putin's wealth. He alleged that Putin owned 37 percent of Surgutneftegaz (worth $18 billion), 4.5 percent of Gazprom ($13 billion) and half of Timchenko's company, Gunvor (possibly $10 billion). If this information is true, Putin's total personal fortune would amount to no less than $41 billion, placing him among the 10 richest in the world.
These shareholdings have been rumored for years, but now a prominent international newspaper has published such allegations made by a well-informed source. Last year, a private arbitration tribunal in Zurich, Switzerland, ruled that Putin's close St. Petersburg friend from his days in foreign intelligence, IT and Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman, is the beneficiary of telecommunications assets presently valued at $6 billion. Putin's only reaction was to block this information in Russian media...”
Apparently, the above calculations do not take into consideration the USD 6.5 billion “kickback” allegedly received by Putin from Roman Abramovich for approving the state purchase of “Sibneft” oil company from Abramovich in 2005.
A Friend in Need by Yulia Latynina
The Moscow Times November 28, 2007
“…The most serious economic consequence of Putin's presidency is that many of his friends have acquired tremendous wealth over the past seven years. If, for example, oil pumped by Yuganskneftegaz was previously exported by Yukos or one of its offshore subsidiaries, now the same oil is exported by Gunvor, which has capital reserves that are estimated to be about $20 billion. Gunvor is a Geneva-based oil-trading company co-founded by Russian businessman Gennady Timchenko, who is reportedly Putin's close friend.
Gunvor is by no means an isolated case. One way or another, the Kremlin has gained control of the Russian economy using various opaque schemes.
(…) Regardless of how the new Russian offshore companies are structured, it would be naive to imagine that even a single penny in those accounts is registered personally in Putin's name. Therefore, Putin can always claim, "None of my friends' assets belong to me," and he would have all of the documentation to back it up.
The only problem with this is that if Putin is no longer president, his friends might take that statement at full value and gladly agree: "It's true -- none of it is yours."
(…) Of course, it would be possible for Putin to step down formally while attempting to retain control from a different position. He could become prime minister, but this is an official who can be called to the Kremlin at any moment and informed that he has just "voluntarily" resigned from his job.
If Putin does, in fact, step down from his presidential post, the new elite will formally become the owners of Russia since they will control the offshore companies. With tens of billions of dollars at stake, the new owners will have a strong vested interest in making sure that whoever helped them along the way will not come back asking for a piece of the action or some type of compensation out of a sense of gratitude.
If Putin steps down but remains as an informal national leader, how long will it take for the new president to realize that the presidency is the only functioning political institution in Russia?"
Unmasking President Putin's Grandiose Myth by Anders Aslund
The Moscow Times November 28, 2007
“…Everybody around Putin is completely corrupt…In February 2004, presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin named three men as Putin's bagmen, including Gennady Timchenko, the co-founder of the Gunvor oil-trading company. After Rybkin made this statement, he vanished from the political stage. In September, the Polish magazine Wprost wrote that Timchenko, a former KGB officer and member of Putin's dacha cooperative in St. Petersburg, has a net worth of $20 billion. Officially, Timchenko sells the oil of four Russian oil companies, but how are the prices determined to generate such profits?
In a sensational interview in Germany's Die Welt on Nov. 12, Stanislav Belkovsky, the well-connected insider who initiated the Kremlin campaign against Yukos in 2003, made specific claims about Putin's wealth. He alleged that Putin owned 37 percent of Surgutneftegaz (worth $18 billion), 4.5 percent of Gazprom ($13 billion) and half of Timchenko's company, Gunvor (possibly $10 billion). If this information is true, Putin's total personal fortune would amount to no less than $41 billion, placing him among the 10 richest in the world.
These shareholdings have been rumored for years, but now a prominent international newspaper has published such allegations made by a well-informed source. Last year, a private arbitration tribunal in Zurich, Switzerland, ruled that Putin's close St. Petersburg friend from his days in foreign intelligence, IT and Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman, is the beneficiary of telecommunications assets presently valued at $6 billion. Putin's only reaction was to block this information in Russian media...”
Apparently, the above calculations do not take into consideration the USD 6.5 billion “kickback” allegedly received by Putin from Roman Abramovich for approving the state purchase of “Sibneft” oil company from Abramovich in 2005.
A Friend in Need by Yulia Latynina
The Moscow Times November 28, 2007
“…The most serious economic consequence of Putin's presidency is that many of his friends have acquired tremendous wealth over the past seven years. If, for example, oil pumped by Yuganskneftegaz was previously exported by Yukos or one of its offshore subsidiaries, now the same oil is exported by Gunvor, which has capital reserves that are estimated to be about $20 billion. Gunvor is a Geneva-based oil-trading company co-founded by Russian businessman Gennady Timchenko, who is reportedly Putin's close friend.
Gunvor is by no means an isolated case. One way or another, the Kremlin has gained control of the Russian economy using various opaque schemes.
(…) Regardless of how the new Russian offshore companies are structured, it would be naive to imagine that even a single penny in those accounts is registered personally in Putin's name. Therefore, Putin can always claim, "None of my friends' assets belong to me," and he would have all of the documentation to back it up.
The only problem with this is that if Putin is no longer president, his friends might take that statement at full value and gladly agree: "It's true -- none of it is yours."
(…) Of course, it would be possible for Putin to step down formally while attempting to retain control from a different position. He could become prime minister, but this is an official who can be called to the Kremlin at any moment and informed that he has just "voluntarily" resigned from his job.
If Putin does, in fact, step down from his presidential post, the new elite will formally become the owners of Russia since they will control the offshore companies. With tens of billions of dollars at stake, the new owners will have a strong vested interest in making sure that whoever helped them along the way will not come back asking for a piece of the action or some type of compensation out of a sense of gratitude.
If Putin steps down but remains as an informal national leader, how long will it take for the new president to realize that the presidency is the only functioning political institution in Russia?"