Russia, Davos and the rule of law

Financial Times

Planning to invest in Russia? Here’s a reason to think again, courtesy of our colleague Gideon Rachman, blogging from the World Economic Forum in Davos. Even Igor Shuvalov, Russia’s deputy prime minister (pictured), was unable to give potential investors the assurances they wanted when speaking about the notorious death in custody of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

Shuvalov, himself a lawyer, acknowledged that the case was “horrendous”, but blamed “the system”.
Rachman wrote on Friday in this FT’s Davos liveblog:

The question of what is, or is not, “on the record” at Davos remains a tricky one. Yesterday, I attended a Russia session that I was advertised as “off”. However, there were scores of people in the room, and I later discovered that several had tweeted or blogged about it. Now newspaper accounts are emerging. So let me belatedly join the party.

The most gripping exchange came right at the end when Bill Browder of Hermitage Capital – once the biggest foreign investors in Russia and now a bitter critic – asked the panel about the notorious death in police custody of Sergei Magnitsky, his lawyer and auditor.

The response of Igor Shuvalov, the deputy prime minister was – I think – meant to sound reasonable and reassuring. He described the case as “horrendous” and said that some people had already lost their jobs and been charged over it. But it was very difficult to get to the bottom of the case, because the “system” was protecting some guilty people.

The assembled business people did not seem impressed. One told me that – on the basis of that answer – he had decided not to proceed with a big potential investment in Russia. займы без отказа займ на карту срочно без отказа https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php срочный займ на карту