Russia Abuses Interpol Channels with an ‘All Points Bulletin’ For William Browder in Retaliation for Magnitsky Act

May 20, 2013

On 7 May 2013, the Russian Interior Ministry issued a formal request to Interpol to issue an ‘All Points Bulletin’ to locate William Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management and leader of the justice for Sergei Magnitsky campaign.

“The Russian authorities seek to involve Interpol in an abusive, and politically motivated attack on Mr Browder. Anyone offering the Russian Interior Ministry support, or in any way processing their request in relation to Mr Browder, will become part and parcel of Mr Putin’s political vendetta against Mr Browder and attempts to cover up the murder of Sergei Magnitsky,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

The Russian Interior Ministry has sent the request to “locate” Mr Browder to the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon, France, as well as to 190 Interpol national branches around the world. Interpol now has to decide whether to process the Russian request or reject it on the basis that it is a violation of Article 3 of Interpol’s constitution, which prohibits it from processing politically motivated requests.

Interpol’s Commission for the Control of Files will consider Russia’s request, as well as the political motivation for this request at their next meeting, which will take place on 23 and 24 May 2013 in Lyon.

“The attempt by Russian authorities to extend the abuse in the Magnitsky case beyond Russia’s national borders now entangles Interpol in a case of Russian criminal conspiracy involving high-level corruption. This will become a key test whether Interpol’s systems are robust enough to fend off such obvious misuse,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

In sending its “All Points Bulletin” to all Interpol branches around the world, the Russian Interior Ministry has provided falsified information claiming “damage to the Russian Federation” from “theft” of Gazprom stock fifteen years ago. At the time Hermitage purchased all Gazprom shares on the open market, and the Russian Federation has never issued any claims in the last fifteen years. Ownership of Gazprom shares was fully disclosed to the Russian government and to Gazprom itself, and both found no violations. To justify its allegations, the Russian Interior Ministry cited a 1997 Russian Presidential Decree, which imposed certain restrictions on direct ownership of Gazprom stock by foreign companies. However, Hermitage-advised companies always complied with the terms of the Russian presidential decree which was confirmed by numerous audits. The decree itself was abolished more than seven years ago, in 2005, and was administrative in nature. The decree specifically excluded any criminal liability, nevertheless, it did not stop the Russian Interior Ministry from launching a criminal case against Mr Browder.

“The false, discriminatory and retroactive application of law in this case by Russian authorities is a hallmark of a politically-motivated abuse of the criminal justice system. The allegations of the Russian Interior Ministry are a clear smokescreen to conceal the political attack ordered by Russian President Putin on Mr Browder in retaliation for Mr Browder’s advocacy for the Magnitsky sanctions on Russian officials,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

The allegations against Mr Browder were raised by Russia shortly after the passage in the United States of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act in December 2012. Six days after President Barack Obama signed into law the Magnitsky Act, which imposes travel and financial sanctions on Russian officials implicated in Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and death in Russian police custody and the $230 million corruption scandal that Magnitsky had exposed, Russian President Putin publicly attacked Mr Browder in a televised press conference. Shortly thereafter, the Russian Interior Ministry held another press conference, claiming that Mr Browder “interfered” in Gazprom policies fifteen years ago when Hermitage-advised Russian companies were minority shareholders in Gazprom and fought highly public battles against graft and embezzlement at Gazprom. The Russian Interior Ministry now claims that these actions caused harm to “Russian national economic security.”

Russian National Central Bureau of Interpol in Moscow:
Phone: (495) 667 65 42, 667 61 29
Website: http://mvd.ru/mvd/structure/unit/interpol

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