MOSCOW, March 5 (Itar-Tass) – CEO of the Hermitage Capital investment fund William Browder will face accusation for the theft of the Gazprom shares, head of the investigation department over organized crimes and corruption of the Russian Interior Ministry Mikhail Alexandrov said on Tuesday.
William Browder ruled the legal entities, through which the Gazprom shares were misappropriated, he said.
Alexandrov explained that under the Russian presidential decree signed in 1997 the foreign persons, who are registered in Russia for the period of effect of the decree, should receive a permit from the Federal Committee over the Stock Market and the Russian government for the right to buy the shares on the Russian domestic stock market or American depository receipts at the foreign stock exchanges, where their price is much higher.
“Browder masterminded the specially plotted criminal scheme, under which the foreign companies were purchasing the most liquid assets in Russia on behalf of Russian legal entities, which are registered on the territories with tax benefits,” Alexandrov said.
In his words, Browder misused for his criminal purposes several limited liability societies, including the limited liability society Kameya, which he had ruled personally for a long period of time.
The detective noted that the limited liability company Baikal-M and Peninsula Heights Limited were involved in the criminal scheme along with the limited liability company Kameya, the detective underlined.