Russian corruption?

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The FT has reported that:

The public prosecutions' office in the British Virgin Islands has told the US government it has "overwhelming evidence" that Leonid Reiman, Russian telecommunications minister, is the "true beneficial owner" of a fund that owns a large part of Russia's telecoms industry.

The arrangement which hides the true ownership has been managed by a Danish lawyer named Jeffrey Galmond against whom it is said that BVI investigators have prepared preliminary charges.

He told the FT:

I have conflicting feelings about the latest set of 'overwhelming evidence'. On the one hand, I have feelings of sympathy for those whose efforts time and again end in nothing. And on the other hand I would like to own just the tiniest part of what is being claimed I do.

Let me be candid. I am sure he has no such sympathy (although I explicitly accuse him of nothing else). He knows that secrecy is the most powerful ally of the corrupt.

And the BVI should not be claiming credit from this. They are one of the biggest suppliers of corruption services in the world. 750,000 shell companies are incorporated there right now. That in itself brings massive discredit upon them.

Of course, if countries subscribed to the TJN Code of Conduct for Taxation such secrecy would not be available, and corruption of this sort may not be possible.


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