Posts Tagged ‘UPI’

03
April 2013

Russia’s judicial system and the Tower of Pisa — a shared fate awaits

UPI.com

It is fairly well accepted that President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a democracy in name only. He controls the legislature, which passes laws aimed at giving him greater powers. He controls the police, who demonstrate a heavy propensity for arresting Putin critics. He controls a judiciary boasting a record of convictions of those involved in opposing Putin’s seemingly unlimited authority.

The playing field in Russia has clearly been tilted in Putin’s favor. One can only wonder how much more tilting such a system can endure?

Not unlike the Tower of Pisa, the tilting appears to be a continuing process with little hope it will ever abate of its own accord. Nowhere has this become more obvious than in a recent court ruling in the continuing case of the late Sergei Magnitsky.

Magnitsky was a Russian auditor. He was hired to investigate a dubious claim that a company that had earlier been credited with overpaying its taxes was suddenly being accused of underpaying them.

Magnitsky’s audit uncovered a massive theft of state assets orchestrated by Russian officials working in collusion with a criminal element seeking to leave the company open for exploitation by government officials.

Magnitsky identified a policeman involved in the scandal who accused the auditor of fraud and theft. An arrest was made on Nov. 23, 2008 — not of the policeman but Magnitsky — for fraud and tax evasion. The man who had discovered and reported the fraud was now being charged for committing it!

Read More →

Share:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Buzz
  • LinkedIn
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Tumblr
  • StumbleUpon
  • FriendFeed
  • NewsVine
  • Digg
27
June 2012

Outside View: How Obama’s ‘reset’ button can still affect Putin

UPI

Perhaps the biggest waste of U.S. funds in the conduct of U.S. President Barack Obama’s foreign policy to date has been its smallest expenditure.

Whatever the U.S. government paid for the “reset” button, delivered to the Russians early in Obama’s tenure as a symbolic gesture of improving a relationship, which had soured under President George W. Bush, it has proven a waste of money.

In Vladimir Putin, we bear witness to an aspiring totalitarian who has successfully used the framework of democracy in his own country to build the foundation of a dictatorship and who perceives opposition, both foreign and domestic, as a danger to the world order he believes will best guarantee his international influence.

He has taken the reset environment the United States sought to create in its relationship with him as a green light to pursue his personal objectives — objectives totally out of sync with those of the United States.

Putin secured the levers of power during his earlier presidency and maintained, as prime minister, control through a hand-picked successor after his two terms in office ended, as was constitutionally mandated. He then restored himself to power as president — but not before orchestrating a constitutional amendment to extend the time in office from two four-year terms to two terms of six-years.

Read More →

Share:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Buzz
  • LinkedIn
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Tumblr
  • StumbleUpon
  • FriendFeed
  • NewsVine
  • Digg
29
November 2011

Report: Russian lawyer was beaten to death

UPI.com

The lawyer for what was once Russia’s largest foreign investment fund was beaten to death by prison guards and did not die of natural causes, a report said.

The report by employer Hermitage Capital concludes Sergei Magnitsky, 37, was left to die in his cell in 2009 after suffering brain trauma from a beating, The Moscow Times reported Tuesday.

The 75-page document includes morgue photos taken of Magnitsky showing bruises on his wrists and legs.

It reproduces what it said is a photocopied order from the head of the facility where Magnitsky was being held directing guards to beat him with a rubber baton.

Magnitsky, who accused officials of stealing $230 million in government money, was awaiting trial on tax charges at the time of his death.

Two prison doctors have been charged with his death.

The Hermitage report has been given to Russia’s Investigative Committee.

The Kremlin’s human rights council has backed the report but government officials have not issued any comments. hairy woman hairy girl https://zp-pdl.com/emergency-payday-loans.php https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php микрозаймы онлайн

екапуста займ онлайн на карту credit-n.ru займ на киви кошелек мгновенно
онлайн займ на карту маэстро credit-n.ru займ онлайн на киви кошелек срочно
займ или кредит credit-n.ru онлайн займы на банковскую карту
быстрый займ на карточку credit-n.ru займ на длительный срок онлайн

Share:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Buzz
  • LinkedIn
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Tumblr
  • StumbleUpon
  • FriendFeed
  • NewsVine
  • Digg
09
May 2011

Assets probed in Russian lawyer’s killing

UPI

The people responsible for killing Russian lawyer Sergey Magnitsky have stolen money in European accounts, his former boss says.

Bill Browder, head of Hermitage Capital Management, and his staff have spent a year hunting the assets of Russian officials exposed in a $250 million tax fraud by Magnitsky soon before he was jailed, the EUObserver reports.

Magnitsky died under suspicious circumstances in police custody Nov. 16, 2009, after almost a year in prison.

Read More →

Share:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Buzz
  • LinkedIn
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Tumblr
  • StumbleUpon
  • FriendFeed
  • NewsVine
  • Digg