The Washington Post: ‘Raiding’ Underlines Russian Legal Dysfunction
August 13, 2009
3 Lawyers Targeted After Uncovering Seizure of Firms
Philip P. Pan
When three of Russia’s finest lawyers agreed to represent the investment fund Hermitage Capital, they thought they were taking on a routine tax case.
Then they uncovered evidence of a breathtaking crime: Top police and tax authority officials appeared to have quietly seized ownership of Hermitage firms and used them to arrange a $230 million tax refund.
Now, the lawyers themselves are in legal trouble. One has been jailed. The two others have fled the country. All three face charges that seem intended to discredit Hermitage and divert attention from the enormous theft.
Their plight highlights the hazards of practicing law in Russia’s corruption-ridden courts despite nearly two decades of reforms supported by hundreds of millions in U.S. and European aid. Prosecutors and police continue to dominate the judiciary as they did in the Soviet era, but unrestrained by the institutions of the old Communist system or the checks of a genuine democracy, the opportunities for abuse have grown.
No crime illustrates the state of the legal system better than what is known as “reiderstvo,” or raiding — the takeover of businesses through court rulings and other ostensibly legal means with the help of crooked judges or police. The practice is so widespread that local media have reported what raiders charge: $10,000 to alter a corporate registry, $50,000 to open a criminal case, $300,000 for a court order.
Hermitage, once Russia’s largest foreign shareholder with more than $4 billion in holdings, says it encountered a bold variation on reiderstvo: When raiders failed to seize its assets, they looted the Russian treasury instead, then went after the lawyers who caught them.
The Washington Post: Рейдерство подчеркивает дисфункциональность судебной системы в России
August 13, 2009
Перевод статьи ‘Raiding’ Underlines Russian Legal Dysfunction , обубликованной в The Washington Post.
Филип П.Пэн
Три российских юриста подверглись гонениям после того, как выявили рейдерский захват нескольких фирм, пишет Washington Post. Высокопоставленные сотрудники милиции и налоговой службы, по-видимому, тайно захватили несколько фирм, принадлежащих инвестиционному фонду Hermitage Capital, и через эти фирмы устроили возмещение ранее внесенных в казну налогов, составившее 230 млн долларов, пишет корреспондент Филип П.Пэн. По его мнению, факты рейдерства подчеркивают дисфункциональность российской судебной системы.
Российские власти предъявили всем трем юристам обвинения, которые, по мнению издания, призваны дискредитировать Hermitage и отвлечь внимание от крупномасштабного хищения, описанного выше. Один из юристов находится под стражей, остальные бежали за границу. “В заявлении, сделанном в июле, МВД хвалится своим успешным расследованием аферы с возмещением налогов. Но деньги не возвращены и ни один чиновник не арестован. Прокуратура предъявила обвинения только некоему гражданину, ранее осужденному за убийство, который по документам числится новым владельцем фирм Hermitage”, — пишет газета.
The Washington Post: Corruption Taints Courts In Russia
June 24, 2009
By Philip P. Pan
A special European investigator issued a stinging report Tuesday that alleges widespread political abuse of the Russian courts and urges countries not to extradite people to Russia if they might be denied a fair trial.
The conclusions by Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a former German justice minister, are likely to further strain Russia’s relations with the Council of Europe, which commissioned the probe and is locked in a standoff with Moscow over the future of the European Court of Human Rights.
Russia joined the council in the 1990s, but it has recently attacked the court’s impartiality and is the lone council member blocking a plan to streamline its operations. The court, based in Strasbourg, France, acts as an appeals panel of last resort for residents of 47 member countries.
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