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Anti-graft lawyer's ex-boss grills Russian deputy PM over death

by Luke Balleny | http://www.twitter.com/LBalleny | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 28 January 2011 18:47 GMT

Hermitage Capital Management chief asks Russian deputy prime minister about death of his investigative lawyer employee in police custody

LONDON (TrustLaw) - At a private session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov was forced to answer questions about the death of Sergei Magnitsky by the anti-graft lawyer’s former British employer, Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.

Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer who had been investigating how $230 million of taxes that London-based Hermitage Capital Management had paid to the Russian state had gone missing. Prior to his death in police custody, Magnitsky had uncovered evidence allegedly showing that Russian officials were complicit in the theft of the taxes.

Bill Browder, the founder of Hermitage Capital Management, was quoted by The Daily Telegraph on Thursday as saying:

"One year after the investigation (into Magnitsky’s death), people who killed the lawyer have been promoted higher by state orders... My question to you, Igor, is what will prevent other investors to have the same experience after my experience in Russia?"

Shuvalov was quoted as responding:

“Unfortunately, I don’t know the results of the investigation and the end of the case... The past is always very important, although not always positive, but we need to concentrate on the future.”

Russia has had a prominent role in this year’s Davos forum and its delegates have been eager to show that the country is open for investment. President Dmitry Medvedev, in a speech that opened the meeting, said that the country was “moving ahead in fighting corruption and modernising the judiciary”.

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