Who helped putin? Alexey Navalny on the role of Switzerland in storing stolen money
40 days since he passed away. Remembering Alexey. An important interview by Alexey published in 2017 and translated into 9 languages.
WHO CREATED putin? ENG / ITA / RUS: Who helped, lobbied, collaborated, still helping, still collaborating and still sponsoring chekist regime?
Russian Opposition: Who, What and How ENG/ ITA/ RUS: The History of Protests, Soviet Dissidents and Opposition Leaders.
Russian Government vs. Russian people ENG/ ITA/ RUS: 35+ texts: articles, songs, speeches, WikiLeaks, Video
KGBistan: Who, What and How ENG/ ITA/ RUS: What do you know about regime in Russia?
#Alexey Navalny
#Switzerland
Partial translation of article-interview:
Алексей Навальный: Швейцария удобна для коррупционеров!
| Interview prepared by Igor Petrov | SWI | 27.12.2017 |
ЧИТАТЬ НА РУССКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ: Кто помогал путину? Алексей Навальный о роли Швейцарии в хранении украденных денег
LEGGERE IN LINGUA ITALIANA (La mia traduzione dell'intervista originale in lingua russa che è diversa dalla versione pubblicata su SWI): Who helped putin? Alexey Navalny sul ruolo della Svizzera nel deposito del denaro rubato
READ IN OTHER LANGUAGES (N.B. Multilingual versions published on SWI may differ greatly from the original in Russian, as I have discovered differences in the English and Italian versions - not everything that is produced in Switzerland is legendary and is carried out scrupulously. Alas.):
DE - Nawalny: “Die Schweiz ist leider erste Adresse für korrupte Russen”
FR - La Suisse, adresse de choix pour les Russes corrompus
ES - “Suiza, primer destino para los rusos corruptos”
PT - “Infelizmente a Suíça é o principal destino dos russos corruptos”
JP -「スイスとは、腐敗したロシア人が真っ先に向かうところ」
AR - “للأسف، سويسرا هي المقصد الأوّل للأشخاص الفاسدين في روسيا”
CN - 俄罗斯“大老虎”心向瑞士
Alexey Navalny: Switzerland is convenient for corrupt officials!
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has created a political reputation for himself in the field of fighting corruption; in addition, he is a harsh critic of the current Russian President vladimir putin. However, in relation to Switzerland, he is also not stingy with criticism. In an exclusive interview with the SWI Swissinfo portal, conducted even before the scandal with the so-called “Panama Papers,” he pointed to the presence of an obvious pro-Kremlin lobby in Switzerland and the country’s interest in dirty money of dubious origin.
Recently, the name of Alexei Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) has often appeared in the press in connection with his investigations conducted in Switzerland. We decided to find out in more detail how A. Navalny conducts his work in the Confederation. ….. The interview was conducted in writing via email.
swissinfo.ch: It seems that in Russia corruption has long been a normal condition, and not a disease. Is this so, and if so, then don’t you think that the fight against corruption in Russia is a war with windmills?
Alexei Navalny: For putin’s system, corruption is indeed a normal state; moreover, it is, in general, putin’s mechanism for managing politics and the economy. Therefore, the idea that corruption is not terrible is even given an ideological basis, consisting of expressions such as that corruption is oil for the rusty gears of the inefficient Russian economy. However, I am convinced that corruption is the main enemy of Russia both in the political and economic spheres.
The national wealth of Russia is concentrated not even in one percent of the population, but in a very narrow group of people and their relatives. These are literally several families who, like locusts, swoop down on any successful business that appears to take it for themselves. Naturally, under these conditions, neither entrepreneurial spirit nor innovation can develop. And in order to divert the population’s attention from issues of corruption, which became one of the main topics of mass protests in 2011-2012, putin launched the Ukrainian war and is pursuing an aggressive foreign policy.
swissinfo.ch: How and by whom is the information collected by volunteers for your Foundation verified?
Alexey Navalny: Usually we receive all the data ourselves - many of the documents can be requested online, this is especially applicable to Switzerland. We also usually receive an officially certified document with seals and stamps ourselves.
swissinfo.ch: How much did the investigation into Chaika cost (they say it was very little, 250 thousand rubles) and what exactly did this money go to?
Alexei Navalny: The film about The Chaika cost 250 thousand rubles. The investigation itself lasted a year and a half, so it is now difficult to estimate its cost. However, in any case, this will be a small amount: a lot of things cost us free or very cheap, people help for ideological reasons. For example, where someone rents a camera at market price, we will get it at a big discount.
swissinfo.ch: After all, it seems that it is very simple to collect the necessary information here: Switzerland is very transparent, the trade register here, for example, is in the public domain... Or is this a false impression?
Alexey Navalny: This impression is quite true. Swiss trade registers can indeed be found in the public domain, it is a little more difficult to find real estate, but in most cantons we still manage to find what we are looking for. We are always helped by local volunteers who can photograph something or go somewhere and look at it on site. We always rely on open data - I have said many times that anyone can repeat the investigations of the Anti-Corruption Foundation.
swissinfo.ch: As someone experienced in finding “havens” for hiding money, how would you rate the place and role of Switzerland in the list of “safe havens” for corrupt officials?
Alexey Navalny: Unfortunately, I must state that Switzerland is the main country for Russian corrupt officials, here they feel completely comfortable and protected. Suffice it to remember that one of the symbols of Russian corruption, Gennady Timchenko, who became a billionaire due to the fact that Putin forced oil corporations to sell their raw materials through his company, was based in Switzerland, and his company was also registered in Switzerland.
Artem Chaika, the son of the Prosecutor General of Russia, associated in particular with a gang that carried out mass murders in one of the regions of the country, received a residence permit in Switzerland, bought real estate here for 3 million francs and has a legal business in partnership with a Swiss citizen. Even after we made our investigation public and sent repeated complaints to the prosecutor's office, he moves freely between countries and feels invulnerable. He appears to be in the good graces of Swiss law enforcement agencies, including the prosecutor's office.
swissinfo.ch: From your point of view: is it really too easy for rich Russians to obtain residence permits in Switzerland? Are the Swiss authorities naive in this regard?
Alexey Navalny: Of course, there is no naivety here. These people are very famous in Russia, they are quite well known in Switzerland, and both your media and your law enforcement agencies understand everything about them. When the children of the Attorney General open a legal business with a Swiss citizen who pretended to live with a Russian mafia boss, don't tell me that someone doesn't realize what's going on.
swissinfo.ch: The Swiss magazine L'hebdo recently even wrote about a whole “constellation of Putin’s friends” [La galaxie Poutine et les amis de la Russie en Suisse - 04/23/2015 - http://www.hebdo.ch/hebdo/ cadrages/detail/vladimir-poutine-kremelin-russie-crimee-ukraine], existing in Switzerland. Do you think this “constellation” is a reality?
Alexei Navalny: There is definitely a circle of “lobbyists” here who consistently and persistently promote the official position of the Kremlin in Switzerland. The interest in dirty money, as sad as it may sound, is noticeable: the central streets of Geneva are filled with the small offices of thousands of lawyers and auditors, whose main job is laundering and transferring money from Russia to Switzerland. This is a huge infrastructure, which involves both small bank employees and large officials.
swissinfo.ch: How is your cooperation with the Swiss Attorney General's Office going? How willing are they to contact you and how quickly and comprehensively does she respond to your requests?
Alexey Navalny: To my great regret and disappointment, our cooperation with the Swiss prosecutor’s office is one-sided. In December 2015, immediately after the publication of the investigation into Chaika in Russia, we sent the Swiss Prosecutor General’s Office a detailed description of Artem Chaika’s activities in your country, moreover, we even provided relevant information that was not included in our investigation. Similar complaints were sent to the prosecutor's offices of two cantons - Geneva and Vaud.
Almost weekly since then we have asked for the status of this case, but the Swiss authorities do not consider it necessary to share this information with us. The case of Artem Chaika and his family is so transparent and unambiguous that I am shocked that the Swiss prosecutor’s office is so not interested in protecting the interests of its citizens and not protecting them from swindlers and murderers. We would like to think that this is not a case of professional solidarity and cover-up and that very soon Swiss prosecutors will open an investigation against the Chaikas family. (There is already new information in this case, see infobox below - editor's note)
swissinfo.ch: Have you ever had a desire to emigrate or open some kind of special foundation abroad, maybe even in Switzerland, as Khodorkovsky did, for example?
Alexey Navalny: People ask me a lot about this, but no, I have never had such a thought. Now this is impossible, because they don’t give me a foreign passport, and leaving Russia is prohibited for me. For my activities, which involve a certain risk, the fact that I share this risk with all employees of the Anti-Corruption Foundation and Russian citizens is extremely important, otherwise no one will simply believe me.
How can I, from London or Geneva, call on someone to investigate the corruption of prosecutors associated with bandits who carried out a massacre in one of the cities of Russia, where they killed 12 people in a day, including four children? In Russia, these prosecutors are still in power and control the law enforcement system. Therefore, either I share the risks with everyone, or I lose my moral right to leadership.
swissinfo.ch: Give examples when your Foundation’s investigations ended “positively”—with the punishment of the culprit? Should we expect new high-profile revelations from your Foundation in the near future?
Alexey Navalny: One of our early cases ended in success - we found undeclared real estate from State Duma deputy Vladimir Pekhtin, who resigned as a result of the scandal that broke out. However, for a long time, the government's strategy has been to not acknowledge our investigations and not to take any actions that could be interpreted as a response to these investigations.
For example, we spent a long time studying the former head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin. He was fired from his post two years after our most notorious publication. Obviously, this happened, among other things, due to the facts revealed by our investigation. Nevertheless, his dismissal was delayed as much as possible so as not to give rise to linking this decision of the authorities with our activities.
We expect about the same with Chaika - I am convinced that the decision to resign was made immediately after the publication of our investigation, but the resignation itself will happen later. As for our further investigations, we do not stop engaging in this activity, so, of course, we will continue to publish their results.
swissinfo.ch: Switzerland has a very strong tradition of direct democracy, the direct participation of concerned citizens in important political affairs. Can you say that your activities in Russia are an example of direct civil initiative?
Alexey Navalny: This is an important part of our work, our political agenda. You are right: probably, our Progress Party is the only political force in Russia that puts direct democracy as one of its priorities and is already using it to make key decisions, including personnel decisions. We consistently strive for open and accessible primaries as the main decision-making mechanism for the opposition, despite the fact that this is not perceived well by many, since the traditions of behind-the-scenes negotiations are very strong.
In this sense, the Swiss experience is what we refer to when we need to combat the inert and incorrect view that large popular votes will always give the wrong result and that it will be a “vote of fools.” Swiss practice shows that collective intelligence is capable of making better decisions.
swissinfo.ch: What are the prospects for the current democratic opposition in Russia? Why does it stall all the time and its main forces cannot or do not want to unite, why does it not manage to break through to the people? Does she have a chance in the Duma elections in September?
Alexey Navalny: It is wrong to talk about the chances of the Russian opposition from the point of view of ordinary political science and wonder why it is gaining little percentage, why it has no chance. Firstly, the most popular opposition leaders, like me or Khodorkovsky, are deprived of the right to participate in elections. Secondly, our Progress Party, which I registered with my supporters, was forcibly liquidated - we were not allowed to participate in the elections. Thirdly, many of my comrades are also deprived of the right to participate in elections through fabrication of criminal cases.
If you look at the list of the Opposition Coordination Council, which was elected during the wave of protests of 2011-2012, then you will see that more than half of them are arrested, are in forced emigration, are deprived of the right to participate in elections, or are killed, as in the case of Boris Nemtsov. All of them, without exception, were subjected to serious repression by the authorities, therefore, unfortunately, the real opposition in Russia is not a political movement, but a dissident one.
It’s funny to talk about why dissidents in the USSR did not unite and defeat the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the elections. There are many more parallels with the USSR in modern Russia than with a normal democratic society, but I am convinced that the opposition in Russia can and will enjoy great support from the population.
The only time I was allowed to participate in elections was in 2013, running for the post of mayor of Moscow, where 10% of the Russian population lives, I received 30%. And this despite the complete lack of finances, censorship and even the fact that in the middle of the election campaign I was sentenced to 5 years in prison, although I was released the next day after mass protests. Therefore, I have no doubt about the success of the opposition movement when we achieve at least relatively fair elections: not only in terms of counting votes, but primarily in terms of the opportunity to participate and campaign.
Post Scriptum 1:
The case of Artem Chaika
As the Russian press reported, in particular the newspaper Vedomosti, Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) published the results of an investigation dedicated to
members of the family of Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika. In a publication on the website of Alexei Navalny, the son of the Prosecutor General, Artem Chaika, is called
the owner of the Pomegranate Hotel on the Greek peninsula of Halkidiki.Another hotel owner, according to Navalny, is Olga Lopatina, the ex-wife of Deputy Prosecutor General Gennady Lopatin.
“Olga Lopatina is a co-owner of the company “Sugar Kubani” together with the wives of bandits from Kushchevka - Sergei Tsapok and Vyacheslav Tsepovyaz,”
the publication says. FBK also discovered a villa under construction on the seashore on the Halkidiki peninsula, which belongs to Artem Chaika. Olga Lopatina’s mansion is also located not far from his house, the foundation claims.
In addition, Navalny found Artem Chaika’s property in Switzerland - in 2014, he purchased a house with an estimated value of approximately 198 million rubles. Navalny also claims that Artem Chaika’s accounts in Switzerland were managed by the company of the current
member of the Federation Council from Adygea, Murat Hapsirokov. Finally, FBK suspects Artem Chaika of a
raider seizure of the Verkhnelensky Shipping Company in the Irkutsk region and the removal of at least 12 ships from state ownership.
Yuri Chaika called the FBK film an “order” that was clearly not made with the money of the performers. The information presented, according to Yu. Chaika, is deliberately false and has no basis.
As the prosecutor said, it is absolutely clear to him who and what is behind this: foreign intelligence services that want to harm Russia.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov commented on the Anti-Corruption Foundation’s investigation into Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, his family and associates and stated, according to RIA Novosti, that “Chaika, like all of us civil servants, submits a declaration every year in accordance with the established procedure, which , like all of us, is most carefully checked by the relevant anti-corruption structures.
D. Peskov assured that there is no reason to doubt that Chaika will declare his income next year, since “this is an obligation by law.” According to Peskov, information about the business of the Chaika family is not new and is not of interest, since it concerns the adult children of the Prosecutor General, and not himself, TASS reports.
.
Post Scriptum 2:
Alexey Navalny about the Panama Papers
“The OCCRP investigation is excellent. Everything can be found there. putin's 2 billion.
Patrushevand
Geremeevopen Panamanian offshore companies with the same lawyer.
Ulyukaevand
Liksutov.
And the funny thing is:
Lesinis there too. The version “he didn’t know anything and just died quietly” is looking increasingly unconvincing.”
.
Post Scriptum 3:
First and second front
As the Kommersant newspaper reported on March 28, 2016,
“the police and the Swiss prosecutor’s office confirmed that Chaika Jr. has a residence permit in Switzerland, but did not find any facts indicating that he had committed crimes. The result was an official refusal to initiate criminal proceedings against the applicant.”The answer was the understandable disappointment of Alexei Navalny, which he expressed on social networks:
“The Swiss write to Russia: the eldest son of your prosecutor general is investing money in our country, and we were given documents that he is connected with the murderers through the wife of the deputy prosecutor general. Give me the documents. Russia responds: we have conducted an official investigation and we refute the facts you were given.
Switzerland writes: it seems that your son of the Prosecutor General may be involved in the murder of the director of the shipping company. There was a suspicious death. Russia answers: what are you, what are you. There was no suspicious death. We checked that the prosecutor's office closed the case correctly.
Switzerland writes: they sent us that the children of the Prosecutor General are squeezing out a billion-dollar government order through fake tenders. Russia responds: with all responsibility we affirm that the billion-dollar state order from prosecutor’s children is the most honest in the world. They are successful businessmen. ….
This is precisely the problem. … Arguing in the terminology of “first and second front”: the West cannot open a second front if Russia does not officially want it to be opened.”
.
Post Scriptum 4:
Position of the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office
In response to a written request from the SWI Swissinfo portal,
the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office (BA)clarified that “the issue of clarifying the identity of the persons mentioned in the statement of claim (of the FBK Foundation) and re-checking the circumstances set out in the claim was dealt with by
the Swiss Federal Police Office (Bundesamt für Polizei- fedpol).
No specific facts confirming the existence of criminal acts related to the legalization/money laundering have been established. If... it is concluded that the facts within the meaning of Art. 305 bis of the Swiss Criminal Code (legalization / money laundering)
were not confirmed, then the Federal Prosecutor's Office, on the basis of Art. 310, paragraph 1 lit of the Swiss Code of Procedure,
decides not to accept the relevant claim for proceedings.
It is possible to talk about the legalization/laundering of funds only when their criminal origin has been proven. The actions taken to clarify these circumstances, however, did not produce any corresponding results. Thus, the presence of a crime under Art. 305 bis of the Swiss Criminal Code (legalization/money laundering),
has not been established with certainty.
All relevant clarification activities were carried out by the department of
the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office for the supervision of the investigation of economic crimes and corruption in the city of Lugano, canton of Ticino,in order to exclude any bias, since this department of the prosecutor's office has never dealt with cases related to Russia.”
In Alexey Navalny’s interview were mentioned several people Khodorkovsky, Timchenko, Liksutov, Chaika, Patrushev in ‘Freedom Filese’ there are translated articles about them full list you can find in the Italian version of this article after Post Scriptums
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