Doing Business in Russia. Котова К.П - 42 стр.

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ceipt of easy credits and their improper use, and the “laundering” of money.
Even more widespread is graft linked to the provision of credits, the issue of
ready money, the operating of clearance accounts, and the acceleration of the
passage of financial documentation.
      MN: Don’t forget about financial pyramids and their collapse.
      V.A.: As of March 1 in Moscow alone there were 213 bankrupt financial
companies. As a rule, their bankruptcy was linked to the deceit of depositors
and the fraudulent appropriation of the collected money by the leadership of
these firms. But to this day about 450 unlicensed non-banking commercial en-
terprises deal in finances. It cannot be said that law-enforcements bodies look
through their fingers at such fraudulent financial dealers. Thus, in February the
Main Directorate on Economic Crimes of the Internal Affairs Ministry jointly
with the Penza Region’s Department of Internal Affairs exposed a group which
had appropriated more than 9 billion rubles which belonged to 8,000 depositors.
In May criminal proceedings were instituted against 11 persons who had stolen
from the Grozny subsidiary of Credo-Bank currency bonds to the sum of over 7
million dollars. The greater part of the bonds has been found and confiscated.
Incidentally, called to account among others are a senior inspector of a special
department of the Federal Security Service, the chief of the financial depart-
ment of a regiment, and the head of the currency department at one of Mos-
cow’s commercial banks.
      A.G.: Quite frequent also are “plain” swindles, without the promise of
out-of-this-world interest on deposits. Exposed in the Saratov Region was a
group headed by a Muscovite who, incidentally, was being sought for murder.
The swindlers, introducing themselves as staff members of a Russian-Irish joint
venture, attracted citizens’ money for the construction of comfortable and inex-
pensive housing. In three months the inhabitants of the city deposited nearly
650 million rubles in the firm’s account. Having sensed the law-enforcers’ in-
terest in the firm’s activities, the swindlers fled with all the money and were de-