Russian Roulette: Russia's Economy in Putin's EraVaknin, Samuel
History
Russian Roulette: Russia's Economy in Putin's Era
Vaknin, Samuel
Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1952-; Russia (Federation) -- Politics and government -- 1991-
The cover of the main report carried a disclaimer that it was based on
procedures dictated by the central bank and "... consequently, we (PwC)
make no representation regarding the sufficiency of the procedures
described below ... The report is based solely on financial and other
information provided by, and discussions with, the persons set out in
the report. The accuracy and completeness of the information on which
the report is based is the sole responsibility of those persons. ...
PricewaterhouseCoopers have not carried out any verification work which
may be construed to represent audit procedures ... We have not been
provided access to Ost West Handelsbank (the recipient of a large part
of the $4.8 IMF tranche)"
The scandal may have hastened the untimely departure of the IMF's
Managing Director at the time, Michel Camdessus, though this was never
officially acknowledged. The US Congress was reluctant to augment the
Fund's resources in view of its controversial handling of the Asian and
Russian crises and contagion.
This reluctance persisted well into the new millennium. A congressional
delegation, headed by James Leach (R, Iowa), Chairman of the Banking
and Financial Services Committee, visited Russia in April 2000,
accompanied by the FBI, to investigate the persistent contentions about
the misappropriation of IMF funds.
Camdessus himself went out of his way to defend his record and reacted
in an unprecedented manner to the allegations. In a letter to Le Mond,
dated August 18, 1999 - and still posted on the IMF's Web site, three
years later - he wrote, inadvertently admitting to serious
mismanagement:
"I wish to express my indignation at the false statements, allegations,
and insinuations contained in the articles and editorial commentary
appearing in Le Monde on August 6, 8, and 9 on the content of the
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) audit report relating to the operations of
the Central Bank of Russia and its subsidiary, FIMACO.
Your readers will be shocked to learn that the report in question,
requested and made public at the initiative of the IMF ... (concludes
that) no misuse of funds has been proven, and the report does not
criticize the IMF's behavior ... I would also point out that your
representation of the IMF's knowledge and actions is misleading. We did
know that part of the reserves of the Central Bank of Russia was held
in foreign subsidiaries, which is not an illegal practice; however, we
did not learn of FIMACO's activities until this year--because the audit
reports for 1993 and 1994 were not provided to us by the Central Bank
of Russia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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