Scandal of day
BOSS OF CHUKOTKA PRIOR TO ELECTIONS
Quite a bit has been written in the mass media about the present governor of Chukotka. It is a known fact that Roman Abramovich, being the de facto owner of the large oil company "Sibneft," has for the last five years been a member of the group of oligarchs who are close to the "family" of B. Yeltsin, the former president of Russia. Roman Abramovich is especially close to Yeltsin's daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko, who runs all the financial projects of the "family." In the small group of political and financial elite, Abramovich is considered to be the "shadow general" of the "family," the person on whom the financial prosperity of the latter depends.
Abramovich regularly paid for the trips that members of the "family" took to Switzerland resorts. From the accounts of his Swiss firm "Runik," he paid for movable assets and real estate bought abroad. He controlled the flow of raw materials and currency to and from "Sibneft," which was under his control, in a manner favorable to the "family."
R. Abramovich's advent into the highly profitable oil business is related to B. Berezovsky and to the latter's struggle to gain control of OAO "Sibneft." The story about the winners at an auction of three large blocks of state shares of enterprises being virtually all firms controlled by Abramovich and Berezovsky is generally known and was written about a number of times in different sources of information. Special attention should be given to the fact that as a result of the swindling actions of Abramovich and Berezovsky in the course of privatization of "Sibneft," which was federal property, in 1995-1997 the Russian government, according to approximate figures, did not receive about 3 billion U.S. dollars.
Russian law enforcement agencies and special services have showed interest in the commercial activity of Abramovich-controlled "Sibneft" a number of times. Once the tax police even conducted a search in the central office of the company in Moscow. However, Abramovich's connections at the highest political level enabled him to keep his safe position, and rare attempts made by various organizations to put him on the spot were instantaneously "stifled" by a telephone call from above.
Generally speaking, for a long time Roman Abramovich preferred to keep the role of an unreachable, court oligarch, the owner of yachts, ships, bank accounts and factories, submissively yielding the political laurels to his direct patron - Boris Berezovsky, at that moment the most aggressive ideologue of the "family."
The situation significantly changed with the advent of the new president. His statements in respect to keeping oligarchs at a distance from power in the government, and also the robust activity of law enforcement agencies and special services directed at some very well-known personalities, including Berezovsky, induced Abramovich to fulfill, as he himself proclaimed, his old dream of becoming the boss of Chukotka.
So, on the one hand, elected Governor Abramovich acquires a corresponding legal status and becomes virtually untouchable by the law enforcement agencies, and on the other hand - Chukotka can be seen as a region where it is possible to hide private business from inquisitive eyes and also to make considerable profits after preliminary investments. One good example is fishing quotas.
In the ideal situation, according to the plans of the newly-made governor, in the case where the main industrial enterprises in the region will work with profit, "Sibneft" will become the only monopolist on the peninsula: the recovery of oil and gold is under the control of "Sibneft," as are possible diamond deposits, the presence of which is indicated by geologists. The informational and social field, administrative resource also belong to Governor Abramovich, and Abramovich is the boss of "Sibneft."
It seems as if everything fits and there is nothing to find fault with.
However, at the beginning of 2001 the Attorney General instituted a case relating to the fact of infringement of Russian legislation, which occurred in the course of privatization of the "Sibneft" company. The most highly experienced and capable investigators were included in the investigative group. Many interrogations and seizures began, and one person even became ill in the course of an interrogation and had to be hospitalized. Abramovich was also interrogated.
It would seem that it should be clear to a person in the know that a new team, acquiring power, would like to, as they say, "show his teeth" and bring certain personalities to heel. It is also clear what consequences might result in the case of a successful investigation of this criminal case and against whom the main charge was directed.
And all of a sudden, after a brief period of time, the case was closed with the formulation "because of the absence of a criminal act."
It remains to guess what the basis for this was, but, as our source learned, right after his interrogation, Abramovich had a number of meetings with a high-ranking official of President Putin's administration, who was one of the so-called "new peterburgers," at which it is affirmed the "client began to waver" and gave himself up to the mercy of the winner.
On the basis of available, reliable data, the proposal was made to Abramovich that in exchange for stable business and a quiet governorship, he show his loyalty to the new ruling power by allocating a certain sum to the budget as compensation for the losses incurred by the irregular privatization of "Sibneft." It was proposed as an additional, but obligatory, condition that confidential information be provided in respect to individual members of the "family," including information on how they acquired assets abroad, on personal accounts, secret contacts. Concrete names of interest were indicated, including, in particular, Voloshin, Dyachenko, Yumashev and Deripaska.
On the whole, an undercover scheme.
The behavior of Roman Arkadevich is easy to understand. He needed to obtain the patronage of the new ruling team, without completely disassociating himself from the "family." It is important not to make mistakes here.
With regard to the relationship with Tatyana Borisovna, it is already a burden on poor Roma. So many new expenditures are no laughing matter. Tanya likes to live in London - Roma, pay! Tanya wanted a castle in Germany - Roma, pay! Tanya decided to give birth to a third child - all the expenditures lie on Roma's shoulders. And then payments need to be made for expenditures on her older sons Boris and Gleb! And then there is Valya Yumashev with his problems. And Roma Abramovich has to pay for all of this. The old Russian saying "a woman off the cart is easier for the horse" comes to mind. Is this woman (read Tanya) necessary? Maybe it would be better for the horse (read Roma) to find a new master? It looks like he has found one. He is trying to minimize expenditures on the "family" by any means. And when too much pressure is put on him, he flies to Chukotka. Purportedly living in Chukotka, actually he lives in Anchorage (Alaska, U.S.A.), where a reserve "hiding place" has been created. So Abramovich has begun to behave like a rat. Hiding from the "family", he buys all possible assets of the fallen-from- favor Berezovsky. In order to do this, he is not loath to travel to Tbilisi where he has contacts and meetings with the brain center of the BAB empire - Badri Patarkatsishvili, who has been a subject of federal and international investigation.
Whether Roman Abramovich will search for new patrons (instead of the worn-out Tanya and Valya) is not known. Maybe they have already been found and are receiving the grants from which Tanya and Valya are being gradually removed.
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