http://www.crji.org/?idT=88&idC=88&idRec=5037Russian Businesses With Organized Crime Links Expanding Into Romania
Paul Cristian Radu / 2002-08-30 ro
PART 4:
Oleg Deripaska, Aluminum Tycoon
Oleg Deripaska, one of the most important Russian tycoons at the moment, leads the Russky Alyuminiy concern, financed by the Russian group Alfa. He is a friend and business partner of the famous
Boris Berezovski, Anatoli Chiubais, and Roman Abramovich. The Cemtrade Company, a branch of the Russian Russky Alyuminiy concern, currently holds all the assets of the Alor Company in Oradea. Constantin Iavorski, his wife Larisa, and his two daughters, Olga and Irina, are the shareholders of Cemtrade Company. The Dilcor International Ltd. Company is the legal shareholder. It has its headquarters in the British Virgin Islands. The object of activity of the Cemtrade Company is "mediating activities in the trade of lumber and construction materials." The new company, set up by Russky Alyuminiy, through Iavorski, was named Alumina Oradea. Following the price increase for electricity, Alor could no longer manufacture goods under profitable conditions. It had incurred huge debts. The FPS' [State Ownership Fund] lack of interest made the factory file for bankruptcy. In May 2000, Cemtrade became the majority stockholder. Its first goal was to decrease production costs and to acquire the Alor company's main partner, namely Alro Slatina. The first variant failed because the Cemtrade Company has so far failed to obtain facilities from the Romanian State for payments for electricity and thermal energy. Iavorski's plan to acquire a thermal manufacturing unit in Oradea has also failed. (He wanted to achieve it through the Seven Trust Company, which Iavorski set up together with several directors from the former Conel [energy distribution company]). If successful, the move would have led to the curbing of energy tariffs for Alor. The drop that filled the glass was the failure to acquire Alro Slatina. That failure made the Russians restrict their activity. At the moment, Alor Oradea is involved in an ongoing liquidation process, under APAPS' [Romania's Privatization Authority -- Privatization Authority and Management of State Shareholding] direct guidance. The Russian owner, who is currently exploiting the company's assets, operates the company at its minimum capacity. He keeps threatening his employees that he will close down the unit and will fire hundreds of workers if the state refuses to grant him the requested facilities. Alor Oradea is the sole manufacturer of tubular aluminate in Europe. Only one other manufacturer exists at the world level, the Alcoa Company, in the United States.
Andrei Melnichenko, Financial Tycoon
At the moment, Andrei Melnichenko controls the MDM group (Mezhregionalny Delevoi Mir), which includes banks, pipe and coal manufacturing companies, and chemical units.
Melnichenko was appointed the MDM group's chairman after Aleksandr Mamut's resignation. The latter, who used to be the number one person at MDM, resigned due to involvement of the MDM's name in the BoNY (Bank of New York) scandal. This scandal related to the laundering of more than $7 billion by Russian organized crime rings through the Bank of New York. Besides the investments in Russia, the MDM group is also running businesses in Lithuania and in Romania. According to the declarations made by the MDM group's representatives, Melnichenko's group controls the activity carried out by Artrom SA Slatina, which manufactures metal pipes.
Dan Badea and Sorin Ozon also contributed to this report
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/russian-mafia-laundered-10bn-at-bank-of-new-york-p-1113796.htmlINVESTIGATORS ARE studying accounts at the Bank of New York, amid suspicions of large-scale money-laundering by Russian mobsters through the bank. The bank said yesterday it was co-operating with an international police inquiry.
Billions of dollars have passed through the bank in the past year in what could be the biggest money-laundering operation detected in the United States. The bank, one of the oldest in America, acknowledged that the funds originated in Russia, where organised crime is rife in banking circles.
According to The New York Times, quoting unidentified investigators, the accounts have been linked to Semen Mogilevich, regarded by the US and European authorities as a big player in Russian organised crime. The paper reported yesterday that some $4.2bn (pounds 2.7bn) passed through one account in the period from October 1998 to March 1999 in more than 10,000 separate transactions. Because the account has remained open throughout the current financial year, it is believed the total amount could exceed $10bn.
It is likely to take many months before the investigators go through all the documents and penetrate the complex web of companies to find out where the money came from and where it was sent. Some is believed to have gone to finance contract killings and to pay off drug barons.
The investigation at the Bank of New York is believed to have begun a year ago on the basis of information supplied by the British authorities. They are said to have found references to a front company linked to Mr Mogilevich while sifting boxes of documents for an investigation into UK activities of the Russian mafia. Two senior employees of the bank, both dealing with Eastern Europe and Russia, have been suspended. One is a senior vice-president of the bank in New York, the other holds a similar rank in the bank's London branch.
In a statement, the bank said: "The Bank of New York has been co-operating with the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York in a confidential investigation of the use of bank facilities to transfer funds from Russia to other countries." It insisted that there were "no allegations of wrongdoing by the bank" and that no customer funds had been lost.
The US has strict regulations that require banks to report cash deposits above a certain amount and any "unusual activity" in accounts. Neither the bank nor the US Treasury, which collects the information, would comment on whether reports had been filed in relation to the suspect account or any others at the Bank of New York.
The bank, which has more than $67bn in assets, was founded in 1784 and is known for getting foreign companies to list on US stock markets.
Mr Mogilevich, who is believed to be living in Budapest, was named in a 1996 Senate hearing as the leader of an organised-crime group in the United States. A year earlier the National Criminal Intelligence Service in Britain said he was "one of the world's top criminals" with a "personal wealth of $100m".
The report centred on a money-laundering scheme allegedly run by companies linked to Mogilevich in Britain."
Anybody recall Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta dining with the Serbian Witch, Marina Abramovich in "Sprit Cooking? Is Roman Abramovich her daddy? Anybody recall the Prince Bernhard and Queen Beatrice of of the Netherlands and founder of the Bilderberg Group of which the Clintons are members partying with Marina Abramovich? The Bilderberg Group, New World Order advocates are running the European Union.
Anybody recall James Comey's position on the board of the HSBC/Bank of New York?
Are you getting the picture of how organized crime and communists are taking over our banks and the Democrat Party and Europe? This is theRise of the 4th Reich, the alliance of old Nazis and old communists and old money.
COPY THIS REPORT and send it everywhere. Follow the money!