Russia Lost $25 Bln in 3 Years in Transfer Scams – Banker

Russia Lost $25 Bln in 3 Years in Transfer Scams – Banker

MOSCOW, June 19, 2013 (RIA Novosti) – Shell companies have illegally funneled 760 billion rubles ($25 billion) from Russia in the past three years, outgoing Central Bank chief Sergei Ignatyev said on Wednesday, Vedomosti business paper reported.

Ignatyev who is leaving his post next week after serving three consecutive terms, made the statement in a report to the Russian parliament on the central bank’s activity last year.

“In May this year, the Central Bank received an official inquiry from the Interior Ministry about some organizations that were used in illegal financial transactions by suspects in one of several criminal probes,” Ignatyev said.

“The Central Bank examined direct and indirect payment relations of that organization and…we found out that the organizations mentioned in the inquiry are a small part of a vast network consisting of 173 shell firms, through which 760 billion rubles were withdrawn in violation of tax and foreign exchange legislation,” he said.

Another 21 billion rubles were converted into cash, also in violation of the Russian legislation, he added.

Ignatyev made headlines in February when he said the Central Bank had exposed dubious operations worth $49 billion last year with the involvement of shell companies.

“Our analysis shows that more than half of all dubious operations are held by firms directly or indirectly bound by payment relations with each other. The impression is created that all of them are controlled by one well-organized group of people. If the law-enforcement agencies concentrate their efforts considerably, they will be able to identify these people and also the beneficiaries of these operations,” Ignatyev said then.

Illegal money transfer operations involve export revenues not received on time, cash for goods and services prepaid but not received under import contracts, and money transfers abroad under fictitious operations with securities and loans.

The level of suspicious operations has stayed steady at 2 percent of Russia’s GDP in the past four years, the central bank estimates.