Russian Investigative Committee Rejects President’s Human Rights Council Report in its Investigation of Tax Officials Exposed by Sergei Magnitsky

December 3, 2012

The Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee has reject­ed the Russ­ian Pres­i­den­t’s Human Rights Council’s report on the cor­rup­tion uncov­ered by Sergei Mag­nit­sky in their inves­ti­ga­tion into the ille­gal tax refunds approved by the Moscow tax inspec­tion No 28, which led to the theft of $230 mil­lion from the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment. The refusal was issued by S. Olkhovnikov, senior offi­cial of the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Committee.
“The high-lev­el gov­ern­ment cov­er up of the theft of $230 mil­lion from the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment and the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky con­tin­ues shame­less­ly and unabat­ed. The cor­rupt offi­cials behind this crime are so pow­er­ful and enjoy such impuni­ty that they can pub­licly reject find­ings under the aus­pices of the Pres­i­dent of Rus­sia with­out any con­se­quences,” said a Her­mitage Cap­i­tal representative.
The Pres­i­den­t’s Human Rights Coun­cil report pub­lished on July 5^th 2011, specif­i­cal­ly opined on the role that gov­ern­ment offi­cials played in the steal­ing the 5.4 Bil­lion rubles ($230 mil­lion) and the sub­se­quent cov­er-up and sab­o­tage of the inves­ti­ga­tions. The report said: “The work­ing group reg­is­ters the facts of the sab­o­tage in the inves­ti­ga­tion and inter­fer­ence with the inves­ti­ga­tion on the part of the offi­cials involved in the inves­ti­ga­tion of the case on the ille­gal re-reg­is­tra­tion of Rilend, Par­fe­nion and Makhaon and the ille­gal refund of 5.4 bil­lion rubles of tax­es which was made after that.”
In the same action of reject­ing the Human Rights Coun­cil report, the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee also refused to recog­nise Sergei Magnitsky’s rel­a­tives as vic­tims pre­vent­ing their access to the case files and abil­i­ty to chal­lenge the lack of progress in the inves­ti­ga­tion. In his appli­ca­tion, a rep­re­sen­ta­tive for the fam­i­ly sought for the fam­i­ly to be recog­nised as vic­tims on the grounds that the co-con­spir­a­tors of the thefts were involved in the retal­i­a­tion against Sergei Mag­nit­sky, which led to his death in state cus­tody in Novem­ber 2009.
Sergei Mag­nit­sky died in Russ­ian police cus­tody in Novem­ber 2009. Three years lat­er not a sin­gle offi­cial respon­si­ble for his arrest or the frauds he had uncov­ered has been brought to jus­tice. A glob­al cam­paign seek­ing jus­tice has been launched around the world giv­en the impuni­ty of the offi­cials involved in the arrest, tor­ture and death of Mag­nit­sky and the mas­sive cor­rup­tion he had uncov­ered in Russia.

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