Moskovsky Komsomolets: “Storchak Case Stymies All Clans”
Alexander Khinshtein
The war against Kudrin may inflict defeat on Bastrykin
The case of Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak will undoubtedly go down in history as a vivid example of the feud between different clans. Nobody seems to doubt that the case has political-economic and not legal roots.
Storchak's triumphant release two days ago was added proof of the above. In spite of all the assurances that the Deputy Minister had been released because the investigation had been completed, the real cause lies elsewhere.
It can be said with a high degree of certainty that the country's leadership had to step in to decide the Deputy Minister's fate. Thereafter it suddenly "dawned" on Alexander Bastrykin that Storchak need no longer languish in prison; and yet only a month earlier Storchak, at the insistence of the Prosecutor's Office Investigation Committee (SKP), was remanded to custody until mid-November on the grounds that if released he would go into hiding, bring pressure on witnesses and destroy evidence.
So, he could do it in September, but not in October...
The release of Sergei Storchak came as a total surprise for everyone: for the Finance Minister, the Prosecutor-General's Office and even for himself. As late as Tuesday morning the Deputy Minister's lawyers were poring over the materials of the case and agreed to continue their work the following day. But after lunch things changed: the investigators suddenly mellowed and decided to release Storchak and, for good measure, his "accomplice", businessman Viktor Zakharov.
It is significant that SKP chose to break the news to journalists first. The lawyers and Storchak himself got the good tidings from the news bulletin. (Alexei Kudrin got the word while in a meeting with EurAsEC Finance Ministers). One suspects that Alexander Bastrykin was anxious to report that he had fulfilled the assignment as quickly as possible.
Not that this is surprising in any way. From the very first day, anyone at all involved in the case realised that its roots were not in criminal.
Storchak was arrested at a time when his immediate superior, Alexei Kudrin, was groomed for Prime Ministership. (That was before Medvedev succeeded Putin as President). Those opposed to the appointment were desperate to see the country's chief financier drop out of the running. The materials that might incriminate his deputy came in handy.
The arrest was well-timed: Kudrin was on the opposite end of the world, in South Africa. As usual, the President was told that there was ample evidence of the Deputy Minister's guilt and unless he was seized at once the son-of-a-bitch would escape abroad with stolen money. (There is however another version. Immediately after Storchak's arrest the head of a medium- and small-tonnage ship-building concern, Igor Kruglyakov, a target of his competitors, was arrested. His arrest might pave the way for recarving the ship-building market by buying stakes in major enterprises for a song. This, however, does not make the political version irrelevant. It could be both.)
However, Kudrin behaved in a surprisingly courageous way. He spoke up publicly in defence of Storchak, offered to release him against his personal guarantee and in general missed no opportunity to remind the Kremlin about the fate of the detainee.
Eventually Putin, fed up with squabbles inside his retinue, ordered the chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court, Anton Ivanov, a man not affiliated with either side, to look into the financial niceties of the case and find out whether the Algerian debt really existed and whether the Finance Ministry should have paid it back.
Ivanov looked into the matter to find that the debt existed and had to be paid back, as he reported to the President in the presence of Kudrin and Bastrykin as early as last December. But it is only now that Storchak has been released. Why?
It has to be said that SKP and the special services, in a bid to save face, assured the President that they were right and asked to be given a little more time in order to produce incontrovertible proof that a bribe had been given. To be on the safe side, another charge was being prepared against Storchak (the illegal write-off of Kuwait's debt), but the charge was quashed by the Prosecutor-General's Office (in an interview that the head of SKP, Dmitry Dovgy, gave me he said that Bastrykin had ordered him to bring the charges at all costs although there was no evidence in the materials collected.)
However, time passed and no incriminating evidence against Storchak was found. True, investigators managed to beat out the desired testimony from banker Vadim Volkov (also a former Deputy Finance Minister) in exchange for freedom. Allegedly, Storchak hinted at a backhander for returning the state debt and had even scribbled the figure "10%" on a scrap of paper. But there is no direct proof of that, and oral statements do not count for much. (I wonder whether if I claimed that Mr Bastrykin was soliciting a bribe from me for dropping the case of Dovgy, would that be grounds for the arrest of the Chairman of SKP?)
And Storchak's actions do not dovetail with the prosecution's case.
A few words about the background of the case. In 1996 the Finance Ministry assigned Algeria's debt to the former USSR to a company called Sodexim. It was widespread practice because our former "junior brothers" were not in a hurry to repay debts; a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. Naturally, debts were assigned at a discount, which was 30% in this case. The buyers of the debt, under the Russian-Algerian agreement, were then entitled to receiving Algerian goods covering the sum, sell them and pocket the difference. (This was their interest).
However, shortly afterwards, in the autumn of 1996, Algeria imposed a moratorium on all mutual settlements with Russia. That put the money of Sodexim and of all those who bought debts in limbo.
Negotiations with the Algerians lasted 10 years. It was not until 2006 that a new agreement was signed whereby each country agreed to pay their debtors independently. Sodexim of course immediately demanded cash on the table.
The Finance Ministry denied there was any debt. The whole fuss was over its size as considerable interest had accumulated over 10 years (and that does not include lost opportunities).
Sodexim demanded $53 million. Storchak, who was the Finance Ministry's negotiator, insisted on 40 million. Eventually the $43 million figure was agreed upon. But it was never remitted. Instead, Storchak was arrested.
According to the investigation, the Finance Ministry had no right to pay the money back. (This despite the fact that Kudrin publicly reaffirmed the existence of the debt immediately after Storchak's release). Storchak allegedly had misled the Government because private interests had prevailed upon him. However, following that line of reasoning, it is unclear why he should have reduced the sum of the debt; on the contrary, he should have tried to maximise it because the higher the debt the bigger the kickback.
Storchak's release signifies a fiasco for SKP. If investigators had anything up their sleeves except the unsupported statements, Storchak would have remained in jail until the trial (I can't remember a single case when a person charged with serious crimes was released before the trial on the grounds that the investigation had been completed).
The event is also symptomatic. Apparently Alexander Bastrykin's incompetence is stretching his superior's patience. In the year since it was created, the SKP never managed to put its act together, embroiled as it was in a string of scandals and squabbles.
Alexei Kudrin has recently scored many brownie points by acquitting himself in a crisis situation. His diligence had to be rewarded...
Sergei Storchak, who managed to have a haircut, reported to work yesterday to be welcomed by his colleagues in an office overflowing with flowers; members of the Finance Ministry staff kept bringing flowers to his office all morning.
On a tip from the prudent Minister, he has declined to give interviews, but he said that he had long waited for this day and that he was itching to do some real work: the crisis is making it necessary.
For the time being it has been decided that Storchak will come to the Finance Ministry only occasionally, while spending most of the time working with documents at home. Simultaneously he will have to read the 78 volumes of "his" criminal case.
I imagine it makes interesting reading...
