New Russian Interior Ministry Investigator Denies Liability of Officials in the Tax Thefts Exposed by Sergei Magnitsky

November 21, 2012

Today, Jami­son Fire­stone, the for­mer law part­ner of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, received a let­ter from the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry stat­ing that it exon­er­at­ed all gov­ern­ment offi­cials from any lia­bil­i­ty for the theft from the Russ­ian trea­sury of $230 mil­lion and their laun­der­ing of that mon­ey through the Russ­ian and inter­na­tion­al bank­ing sys­tems. The deci­sion was made by a new Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cer in charge of the inves­ti­ga­tion, Inves­ti­ga­tor R. Fil­ip­pov, and issued by his supe­ri­or, Gen­er­al Major Y.Shinin, Deputy Head of the Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Inves­tiga­tive Department. 
The Inte­ri­or Min­istry let­ter stat­ed: “Cur­rent­ly, there is no data what­so­ev­er in the crim­i­nal case files about the com­plic­i­ty of offi­cials in the inves­ti­gat­ed crime…No data has been obtained indi­cat­ing the com­plic­i­ty of offi­cers of law enforce­ment and tax bod­ies in the above stat­ed theft.”
The Inte­ri­or Min­istry let­ter was in reply to a com­plaint filed by Jami­son Fire­stone on 1 August 2012 with all Russ­ian inves­tiga­tive bod­ies, ask­ing to inves­ti­gate the role of the Klyuev crim­i­nal orga­ni­za­tion and con­nect­ed gov­ern­ment offi­cials in the tax refund fraud of $230 mil­lion and its cov­er up.
The Inte­ri­or Ministry’s find­ings were in direct con­tra­dic­tion to the con­clu­sions of the Russ­ian Human Rights Coun­cil under Pres­i­dent Medvedev and the numer­ous appli­ca­tions to the Russ­ian author­i­ties evi­denc­ing the com­plic­i­ty of offi­cials of Inte­ri­or Min­istry, tax offi­cials and judges in per­pe­trat­ing and cov­er­ing up the crime. The find­ings also con­tra­dict the exis­tence of lux­u­ry for­eign real estate and Swiss bank accounts linked to Russ­ian offi­cials, whose val­ue was well in excess of their offi­cial gov­ern­ment incomes.
The crim­i­nal case to inves­ti­gate the theft and mon­ey laun­der­ing of $230 mil­lion from the Russ­ian trea­sury was opened on orders from Russ­ian Deputy Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor Vic­tor Grin giv­en last June. The case was assigned to Inves­ti­ga­tor R. Fil­ip­pov of the Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee, who includ­ed in the case files false alle­ga­tions that Sergei Mag­nit­sky was involved in the very same crime that Mag­nit­sky dis­cov­ered and blew the whis­tle on. Inves­ti­ga­tor Fil­ip­pov cit­ed pur­port­ed tes­ti­mo­ny from dead peo­ple and con­vict­ed felons to jus­ti­fy his accu­sa­tion against Mag­nit­sky. An ear­li­er com­plaint from Magnitsky’s moth­er chal­leng­ing this posthu­mous accu­sa­tion issued by Inves­ti­ga­tor Fil­ip­pov was refused by the Russ­ian court on the ground that those alle­ga­tions were still the ‘sub­ject of investigation’.
Sergei Mag­nit­sky was arrest­ed after he tes­ti­fied about the involve­ment of offi­cials in a $230 mil­lion tax rebate fraud. Since his death, those offi­cials have been exon­er­at­ed, pro­mot­ed and award­ed state hon­ours, and then ini­ti­at­ed the posthu­mous case against Sergei Mag­nit­sky, the first ever in Russ­ian legal history. 

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