-Caveat Lector-
Russian Sought on Money Laundering
MOSCOW (AP) -- A Russian billionaire who faces an investigation on money
laundering charges said he would return home from France on Sunday, news
reports said.
Boris Berezovsky, who is believed to have close ties to President Boris
Yeltsin, has vowed to fight the charges, which he says are part of a
political vendetta against him by Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov.
He had earlier said he would come back Saturday, but postponed the trip for a
day because of back pain, ITAR-Tass and Interfax both reported.
An arrest warrant was issued against him while he was in France on a business
trip. But the warrant was dropped after Berezovsky promised to return for
questioning.
Prosecutors allege Berezovsky was behind the illegal transfer of $250 million
from Russia's largest airline, Aeroflot, to the Swiss company Andava.
He denies the charges, saying they were trumped up by Primakov.
______________________
"In our strange age, an extremely wealthy man can BUY
himself a foreign policy.
"Take, for example, GEORGE SOROS, the hedge-fund shaman who
has spent more than $1 billion to influence political conditions
in 31 countries around the globe: last year Mr. Soros alone
managed to outgive the U.S. in the lands of Hungary, Yugoslavia,
and Belarus. THAT's power.
"And take the charter members of the multinational
Gulfstream-jet set, men like BILL GATES, Rupert Murdoch, Gianni
Agnelli, Jack Welch, Michael Eisner, Norio Ohga, BORIS
BEREZOVSKY, and Gustavo A. Cisneros.
"They control the tentacles of industrial octopi so vast and
influential that heads of state must adhere to their words.
"In some cases, in some countries, they must follow their
every whim ..."
__________________________________________________________
from The Warsaw Voice, March 2, 1997 No 9 (436)
BEREZOVSKY CASE: An Offer Forbes Can't Refuse?
A high-ranking Russian official is suing the magazine that
dubbed him "Godfather of the Kremlin."
Boris Berezovsky, deputy secretary of the Russian
president's Security Council, is asking the American magazine
Forbes to pay him _100,000. This amount will just cover the fees
for the American and British lawyers hired by Berezovsky. George
Carman, reputed to be Britain's most expensive lawyer, is one of
them.
In its Dec. 30, 1996 issue, Forbes published an extensive
article called "Godfather of the Kremlin?" in which it charged
Berezovsky with responsibility for the 1995 killing of popular
television journalist Vladimir Listev. The magazine also accused
Berezovsky of having numerous mafia connections and embezzling
$50 million collected by his company from thousands of Russians
who purchased AVVA shares-allegedly to start producing a new
passenger car.
Berezovsky, aged 51, is one of the most interesting
personalities in the new Russia. He is a capable mathematician
and professor, and the author of more than 100 academic
publications. At the end of the 1980s, he became involved in
business. Using his contacts with the Volzhansky Car Factory, he
established the LogoVAZ company, which soon became the main
dealer for the popular Russian Lada cars.
Berezovsky's unusual ability to acquire allies among the
highest authorities paid off when President Boris Yeltsin signed
a decree exempting LogoVAZ from customs duty on cars imported to
Russia. This allowed the company to become Russia's main dealer
in Mercedes, Volvos and other foreign makes.
In 1993, LogoVAZ sales were estimated to be $250 million.
Berezovsky took the car market, reputed to be controlled by the
mob, by storm -- the most likely explanation for the attempt on
his life in 1994. A Mercedes with Berezovsky in it was destroyed
by a bomb planted in a nearby car. Berezovsky's chauffeur was
killed in the blast, and his bodyguard seriously injured, but he
was unhurt.
This incident did not prevent the growth of Berezovsky's
empire. General Aleksandr Korzhakov, responsible for Yeltsin's
security at the time, was regarded as Berezovsky's main patron in
the Kremlin.
With the help of the authorities, Berezovsky took control of
Russian television's main channel; he also holds a 30-percent
share in the Russian-American TV6 channel, the popular weekly
magazine Ogonyok and the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta (read in
influential circles).
He has set up his own bank, gains profits from Aeroflot, and
last year took over most of the shares of Sibneft, a leading oil
company.
Berezovsky played a key role in last year's presidential
elections. He financed Yeltsin's election campaign, as well as
General Aleksandr Lebed's, to take as many votes from communist
leader Gennadi Zyuganov as possible.
He used his "close acquaintance" with Yeltsin's favorite
daughter Tatyana Dyachenko to convince her of the need to remove
Korzhakov, whose friend he had been until recently.
On Oct. 29, 1996 Yeltsin signed a decree appointing
Berezovsky deputy secretary of the Security Council.
Soon after, it turned out that the president had broken the
law, which does not permit people with dual citizenship to hold
top state positions.
Berezovsky had held Russian and Israeli citizenship.
Following the scandal which broke when this was disclosed,
Berezovsky quickly renounced his Israeli citizenship. However,
journalists still accuse him of using his leading position to
further his personal business interests, speculating that
Berezovsky wants to profit from oil transit from the Caspian Sea,
since he has taken an interest in Chechnya's problems and
traveled around the former Soviet oil states.
The opposition in the Duma has demanded that Yeltsin remove
Berezovsky, who is also accused by the Russian media of having
mafia connections. Last fall, Korzhakov stated in the monthly
magazine Litsa that Berezovsky had tried to commission him to
kill Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, the head of the rival capital
group MOST Vladimir Gusinsky and popular singer and businessman
Josif Kobzon.
Berezovsky did not take Korzhakov to court. There is a
chance that Korzhakov's soon-to-be-published memoirs will contain
new information disgracing Berezovsky. At the moment, after his
victory in elections held to complete the number of deputies in
the Duma, Korzhakov's deputy's immunity protects him from facing
legal consequences.
The publisher of Forbes did not agree to apologize to
Berezovsky. In mid-February, Berezovsky stated that he was suing
the American magazine. The libel suit will be decided by a court
in London, where Berezovsky has an office. His lawyers are
convinced that Forbes has no evidence to persuade the court that
the Russian politician and businessman is really the godfather of
the Kremlin.
--Krzysztof Pilawski, Moscow
A PORTRAIT OF WORLD POWER
Vanity Fair, November 1997
In our wired world, lit by Trinitrons, circled by satellites
and silicon, and run by good old-fashioned money, the definitions
of power are shifting. Before the shrinking of the globe and the
explosion of the Information Age, the Powerful were a familiar
breed: presidents and prime ministers, monarchs, and a handful of
industrial mandarins. Outside influences on leaders were minimal
(give or take a Rasputin), and the world Empire had terrifying
and very real meaning.
But today, with 40 years of Cold War thawed, and half the
world no longer intent on exploding if not exploiting the other,
we find that the reins of earthly power (once, not long ago,
firmly in the grip of a few iron fists) are coming up for grabs.
In our strange age, an extremely wealthy man can buy himself
a foreign policy.
Take, for example, George Soros the hedge-fund shaman who
has spent more than $1 billion to influence political conditions
in 31 countries around the globe: last year Mr. Soros alone
managed to outgive the U.S. in the lands of Hungary, Yugoslavia,
and Belarus. That's power.
And take the charter members of the multinational
Gulfstream-jet set: men like Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Gianni
Agnelli, Jack Welch, Michael Eisner, Norio Ohga, Boris
Berezovsky, and Gustavo A. Cisneros.
They control the tentacles of industrial octopi so vast and
influential that heads of state must adhere to their words: in
some cases in some countries they must follow their every whim.
And in our own nation it is said that the chairman of the
Federal Reserve System, Alan Greenspan (likely unknown to 95
percent of the populace), is the most powerful person around
because of his ability to move markets and control interest
rates. He is quite possibly the ultimate man of influence in a
world of expanding economies and, one hopes, expanding peace.
And then there remain the traditional imperial magistrates:
the president of the U.S., the P.M. of Great Britain, the
president of France, Russia, and China: armed and dangerous. The
ability to blow up the world still grants you a huge amount of
sway in the international arena ...
But surely even these nuclear leaders can't help but notice
how crowded and varied the global stage seems to be these days.
TABLE: The men and women who shape and rule the world today:
Bill Clinton
Al Gore
Jacques R. Chirac
Boris Yeltsin
Helmut Kohl
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain
His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah
His Majesty Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Saud
Alan Greenspan
Robert Rubin
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Ernesto Zedillo
Hosni Mubarak
Hafez Al-Assad
Alberto Kenyo Fujimori
Carlos Sa�l Menem
Jiang Zemin
Ryutaro Hashimoto
Gustavo Cisneros
George Soros
Kerry Packer
Fidel Castro
The Dalai Lama
Pope John Paul II
Jack Welch
Rupert Murdoch
Gianni Agnelli
Colin L. Powell
Nelson Mandela
His Highness The Aga Khan IV
Donald E. Graham
Katharine Graham
Norio Ohga
Michael D. Eisner
Andrew S. Grove
Warren E. Buffett
William H. Gates III
______________________
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