Police Search Deutsche Bank Office in Russia

NYT ^ | Andrew E. Kramer

[cunning_fish]

February 2, 2011, 3:33 pm Investment Banking | Legal/Regulatory Police Search Deutsche Bank Office in Russia By ANDREW E. KRAMER 6:10 p.m. | Updated MOSCOW — Masked policemen raided Deutsche Bank’s main Moscow office on Wednesday, questioning bankers and unnerving employees. Police said they were searching for documents in a real estate deal linked to a member of the Russian Parliament, now living in exile in the United States. The parliamentarian, Ashot Yegiazaryan, had business dealings with companies tied to the former mayor of Moscow, Yuri M. Luzhkov, who fell from favor and resigned last fall. Deutsche Bank said in a statement that the search concerned the dealings of a single client, and that the firm’s own work was not a matter of suspicion. The bank “continues to operate as normal,” the statement said. In the months since Mr. Luzhkov’s resignation, the police have raided dozens of businesses seen as close to his administration.

[goldstategop]

They won’t really tackle corruption. No one in Russia believes the authorities go after people close to United Russia and the government. Its that old maxim: Punish your enemies and reward your friends. A game Putin has played expertly for over a decade now.

[cunning_fish]

It seems to be true, but I find it ironic that crook is an MP as a Liberal Democrat there. Looks like a libs are all the same everythere.

[piasa]

In the months since Mr. Luzhkov’s resignation, the police have raided dozens of businesses seen as close to his administration.

On a pleasant spring night in May, 2004, groups of protesters stormed the president’s residence in Batumi, demanding Mr. Abashidze’s resignation. There were many factors that led to his ouster, among them the suspicion that he had raided the Adjara budget and secreted huge amounts of cash — including personal letters from Iranian officials regarding the uranium deal — out of the country. When his secretary protested in those last desperate hours, saying there was no time to gather all his correspondence, Mr. Abashidze replied that he only needed the letters written in Farsi. She complied, according to witnesses, and it took more than an hour to gather all the private paperwork. A plane was sent from Moscow to pick him up. He took his bodyguards, and his son and the incriminating evidence of the Iranian deal. He is now living in Moscow in luxury, (with a fake passport, indeed he is afraid to travel) a billionaire protected by the even more corrupt Moscow Mayor Yuri Lushkov, a close ally, who despises America. Nevertheless, Mr. Abashidze just purchased a home in Vienna for $5 million, where his son — a well known drug dealer and playboy — resides. … The mystery of how Iran got the chemicals to enrich the uranium lies with Mr. Abashidze, a little-known figure now protected by his powerful friends in Moscow. He is under investigation for murder and money laundering, but so far international authorities have little hard evidence of his involvement with Iran’s nuclear program.... ---- Shadowy nuclear trail, The Washington Times ^ | 3-29-06 | Tsotne Bakuria