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Prokhorov's money might be spent to pay Party's debts in regions

"We don't know the balance on the accounts, because Prokhorov has been handling them until now," Bogdanov said

MOSCOW, September 20 (Itar-Tass) — The money invested by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov in the Right Cause Party, might be used to pay debts under the contracts in the regions. It is not possible to recover the money, former Democratic Party leader Andrei Bogdanov told reporters on Tuesday.

"We don't know the balance on the accounts, because Prokhorov has been handling them until now," Bogdanov said.

The new Charter approved on September 15 must be registered at the Justice Ministry on Tuesday, and then Andrei Dunayev (acting chairman of Right Cause) will be listed in the Single State Register. Next, the new leadership of Right Cause will receive complete information on their financial position.

"If there is some money left, it will be spent on the contracts Prokhorov concluded in the regions. There are many debts under these contracts," Bogdanov claimed.

Answering reporters' questions, he said these funds are donations and cannot be taken back.

Bogdanov ruled out Prokhorov's appearance at the Party Congress.

After the Right Cause Congress voted for ousting Prokhorov from the post of chairman, the latter stated his intention to fight for the funds on the Party's accounts (according to Prokhorov, the sum makes up 800 million rubles).

The former Party leader said a considerable portion of the money had come as donations from natural persons and legal entities and that he himself had not spent much money.

For his part, Andrei Dunayev stated that in theory, the money might be returned to Prokhorov, but one has to find out first who the real owner is. "We don't want another man's property. If Mikhail Dmitriyevich thinks there are funds belonging to him personally, we'll return them," Dunayev said.

The invested money was donations, and if it was remitted with violations, it is either returned to the sender or reverts to the state.

Bogdanov ruled out that Right Cause might drop out of the election race.

"This scenario cannot not happen a priori," he told Tass before the beginning of the Congress which has to approve the list of the Party's candidates for the parliamentary election.

"Right Cause sill hopes to gather 7 percent and form a full-fledged faction in parliament," he said.

Speaking about the first trio of the election list, Bogdanov said it would include him, head of the Party's executive committee Andrei Dunayev, who is now acting Right Cause chairman, and tennis player Anna Chakvetadze.

He said he would like to see member of the federal political council of the Party Boris Nadezhdin on the list.

If he agrees, he will take Chakvetadze's place, and she will become Number Four on the list.

But Nadezhdin confirmed his categorical refusal to run in the election together with Bogdanov. "I'm not going to participate in the election on the list where Bogdanov is," he told reporters, explaining that such a setup will only bring the Party 1 or 2 percent of votes. Speaking about his personal attitude to Bogdanov, Nadezhdin said he was "not a bad guy."

He did not conceal that he would like to see Mikhail Prokhorov as Number One on the list.

In Bogdanov's opinion, the factor of leaders' popularity will not be decisive at the elections, because they are an "ideological party." Former Right Cause co-chairman Georgy Bont shares this view. "Many of those whom we know, are not known to the voters; 97 percent of the population don't know who Boris Nadezhdin is," Bont said.

However, if the leaders are shown on TV for three months on end and if they say reasonable things, the rightists have a chance.

The Party's list will not have well-known singers, artists, or athletes this time. The only exception was made for tennis player Anna Chakvetadze.

The center-right Right Cause was set up in November 2008, in a merger between three liberal bodies: Civil Force, Democratic Party and the Union of Right Wing Forces (SPS). The SPS gathered 8.52 percent at the 1999 parliamentary election and was represented in the State Duma. After the defeat at the 2003 elections, the Party repeatedly attempted to restructure itself, and finally merged into Right Cause. In June, billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov became the Party leader, but its Congress on September 15 ousted him.