#12
Novaya Gazeta
No. 87
November 29-December 2, 2001
WHAT IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ADMINSITRATION INVOLVED IN?
Voloshin the businessman suspected of having used state funds
Author: Valery Klimakov
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

ELEVEN DUMA DEPUTIES HAVE WRITTEN TO THE PROSECUTOR GENERAL, CALLING FOR AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE BUSINESS ACTIVITIES OF ALEXANDER VOLOSHIN, HEAD OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION. IF THE PROSECUTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE TURNS AGAINST VOLOSHIN NOW, IT WILL MEAN A FULL-SCALE POLITICAL CRISIS IN RUSSIA.

With Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov away in Makhachkala, Dagestan, playing prosecution in the notorious Salman Raduyev trial, Duma deputies back in Moscow have found him a new target. The matter concerns none other than Alexander Voloshin, Director of the Presidential Administration. A letter signed by eleven deputies (left- wing mostly) was sent to Ustinov asking him to take a look at the episodes of Voloshin's business activities in the past which lawmakers had unearthed. There was a period in Voloshin's career when he headed various commercial structures actively involved in auctions, investment contests, etc. Deputies are of the opinion that Voloshin made several deals then that harmed the state treasury seriously. Among other episodes deputies mention the scandal around the sale of AVVA concern stock to Chara bank back in 1994 and 1995. The deal worth over $5.5 million was made by Esta Corp, a private company headed by the future director of the presidential administration. Specialists say the deal was made on the conditions apparently unfavorable for the buyer, Chara. Other episodes are mention in the letter as well. Bending the rules, Voloshin promoted the interests of oligarchs Abramovich and Berezovsky in the Sibneft auction. Sibneft was granted some unheard-of tax privileges afterwards. By the way, the first such letter was sent to Ustinov this summer. Under the law, a state official has two months to reply to such an enquiry from the Duma. Ustinov never bothered to answer the first letter. Moreover, deputies discovered (from the media, not from the Prosecutor General's Office) that criminal charges involving Sibneft had been quietly dropped.

Parliamentarians are perplexed by that. "The media can reveal the information then, and deputies who have known that something was wrong should not be doing, according to the Prosecutor General's Office? We want all information on the criminal proceedings, we want to know why they were suspended, and we demand an explanation why the Prosecutor General's Office has never protested against privatization of Sibneft. We demand a thorough study of the deals made by organizations headed by businessman Voloshin and an investigation of his illegitimate activities in state structures."

In other words, deputies want the Prosecutor General's Office to proceed with what it has been doing. Some state officials who appeared invulnerable only recently are in trouble already - Aksenenko, Shoigu, Lesin. If the Prosecutor General's Office turns against Voloshin now, it will mean a full-scale political crisis in Russia. Observers comment that big-time politics and some substantial interests must be involved. The media is already reporting rumors on Voloshin's imminent resignation. If it is coming indeed, more scandalous revelations are bound to follow.

Russian citizens are used to the authorities springing all sorts of surprises on them toward New Year Eve. They do not have long to wait.