DATE=9/20/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / SCANDAL (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254091
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says
investigators sent to Washington last week saw no
evidence that Russian criminals laundered billions of
dollars through United States banks. The money-
laundering charges have received wide publicity in U-S
newspapers, but have been greeted with skepticism by
the Russian media. V-O-A's Peter Heinlein reports
from Moscow.
TEXT: Prime Minister Putin admits that billions of
dollars have been moved out of Russia to safer havens
in the United States and other countries. That
practice, known as capital flight, is not
necessarily illegal.
But Mr. Putin brushed aside reporters' questions
Monday about allegations that billions more in so-
called dirty money - the proceeds of criminal
activities - has also found its way to the west.
///PUTIN ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO...///
He says, "Our investigators exchanged information with
their American colleagues. Unfortunately - or
fortunately - the media information about Russian
money laundering has not been confirmed."
But United States, British and Russian investigators
have previously been quoted as saying there is "strong
evidence" that as much as $10 billion dollars in
illegally obtained funds have been spirited out of
Russia to the Bank of New York and other western
financial institutions. That amount may include
International Monetary Fund (I-M-F) loan money.
Russia's Prosecutor General, Yuri Skuratov, says he
has a list of 780 current and former government
officials allegedly involved in a bond selling scheme
in which billions of dollars were transferred out of
the country, just days after the I-M-F deposited four-
point-eight billion dollars in Russia's central bank.
The Kremlin, however, has labeled the money-laundering
reports part of an anti-Russia smear campaign. A
spokesman for President Boris Yeltsin this month
pointed out that both Russia and the United States are
gearing up for presidential elections. He said, "it
is clear we are dealing with a propaganda campaign of
some kind."
Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov, however, says
the corruption allegations cannot be so easily
dismissed. Mr. Zyuganov, a vocal Yeltsin opponent,
told reporters Monday he believes the Kremlin has
concocted an elaborate cover up because several senior
officials are deeply involved in the scandal.
(SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/GE/ENE/bk
20-Sep-1999 10:48 AM LOC (20-Sep-1999 1448 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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