#8
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
January 14, 2002
GAZPROM - SHEREMET, SIBUR - GOLDOVSKY, SURGUTNEFTEGAZ- BOGDANOV...
Author: Varvara Aglamishjan
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

A NEW PHASE OF REDISTRIBUTION OF ASSETS BEGINS IN RUSSIA.

A new series of clam down on Russian oil moguls may be a signal that another phase of redistribution of wealth is undeerway

The New Year break was short-lived in the news. There are reasons to believe that a new phase of redistribution of wealth has begun. If it has not, there is no guarantee in Russia nowadays that a new phase is not going to begin sometime soon. There can be no doubts at the same time that battles over control for spheres of influence in state structures are underway. Consider staff shuffles in the Ministry of Railroads. Redistribution of semi-state structures is underway as well - take Gazprom for instance. It does not take a genius to foresee a continuation of the process. The Prosecutor General's Office is playing an important part in it. At his meeting with Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov last weekend, President Vladimir Putin said he saw the Prosecutor General's Office as "the universal tool of seeing to the interests of the state" and an element "responsible for effectiveness of the whole system of state institutions".

The arrest of three top managers of the Siberian-Urals oil-gas chemical company (SIBUR, a subdivision of Gazprom) was one of the latest scandals. They are accused of misappropriating 2.6 billion rubles worth of assets from the company. Moreover, Ustinov's advisor, Vladimir Kolesnikov, says that the Prosecutor General's Office plans a full-fledged inspection of the fuel and energy complex.

Surgutneftegaz is the third largest oil company in Russia after LUKoil and YUKOS. Russian and foreign experts say it is the most discreet structure and its head Vladimir Bogdanov is one of the least known Russian businessmen. At the same time, he is on the list of Russia's top ten oligarchs and five wealthiest men. According to some estimates, Bogdanov had earned almost $5 billion as at last September.

Virtually without serious investments, Surgutneftegaz came up with 44 billion rubles in profit in the first nine months of 2001...

(Translated by A. Ignatkin)