Oleg Alekseev, center, deputy chief of Credit Institution Management Department at Federal Tax Service, and Alexey Mishin, left, the leading legal adviser at Moscow Main Territorial Department of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR)
Photo: Alexander Miridonov
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High-Ranking Tax Officer, CBR Lawyer Accused of Corruption
The Moscow City Court set yesterday to trying one of the biggest corruption cases, where the figurants are Oleg Alekseev, deputy chief of Credit Institution Management Department at Federal Tax Service (FTS), and Alexey Mishin, the leading legal adviser at Moscow Main Territorial Department of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). They are accused of extorting a $5.3-million bribe from Russian Capital Bank’s CEO Alexey Ivashchenko for dropping tax claims.
According to the case files of 15 volumes, the corruption scandal involving a high-level official of FTS and a lawyer of CBR began far back in 2004. Then, tax officers presented to Russian Capital Bank the charges of two-billion rubles ($75 million at the rate of exchange in force on that day), for failure to settle the VAT for precious metal transactions.
Russian Capital went to the law but wasn’t sustained there. In September 2005, Oleg Alekseev and Alexey Mishin offered to Russian Capital CEO Alexey Ivashchenko to send an inquiry from Federal Tax Service to Finance Ministry, requesting to clarify, which of the precious metal players, the buyers or the sellers, should pay this tax actually. The officials promised the explanation would be in Russian Capital’s favor and asked $5.3-million remuneration for it. Ivashchenko decided to seek FSB’s assistance.
Alekseev, Mishin and Ivashchenko met again in the Balchug Hotel October 17. The banker had a plastic case with $1 million in it. FSB officers arrested Alekseev when he was heading for the exit with money. Mishin’s apartments were searched the next day, to no avail though. But more than $1 million was found during the search at the lawyer’s office.
Yesterday, the court ruled to extend the detention for the accused by another half-year. The hearing on the merits is slated for January 30. Mishin hasn’t admitted guilt on any count, saying he happened to take part in the meeting just by chance. Alekseev doesn’t deny he was going to get money from the banker, but insists that his actions should be tried as attempted fraud rather than taking a bribe.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 17, 2007
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