British investor Bill Browder, convicted in Russia of non-payment of billions of rubles of taxes, has confirmed that he was detained and interrogated at the Geneva airport.
Vitaly Karmazin will tell what questions the Swiss border guards asked the international financier.
Bill Browder, a fraud dealer who was convicted in Russia two times, feels confident in Europe. This week, at the Geneva summit, he was giving interviews and telling how he conducted business in Russia, having forgotten to tell about fraud and lies to the disabled. The Prosecutor General’s Office, which demands his extradition to Moscow, reminded about that. Financier's passionate address was spoiled by the Swiss border guards, which he wrote about on Twitter.
"After speaking at the Geneva summit, demanding that the Magnitsky Act be toughened, I was detained at the Geneva Airport by the Swiss border police which demanded that I disclosed confidential information at Russia's request".
This video shows well how Browder behaves during attempts to interrogate him.
"This is a subpoena to the US district court".
The dishonest billionaire runs away each time he's being presented a subpoena. One of the Russian companies sued Browder accusing him of defamation. The company's lawyers were allowed to question the billionaire. His answers were confusing, he said "I don't know" and "I don't remember" almost 260 times.
During this interrogation, among other things, Browder was asked about how he conducted business in Russia at the end of the 1990s. According to investigators, the financier was sure he could make money in Russia out of nothing, which was what he did. To buy shares, he created shell companies and bubble schemes registered on the disabled from Kalmykia. He used the Russian citizens who were ready to give away their passports in exchange for $100, so Browder could launder billions of dollars. Browder was the head of Hermitage Capital, the biggest foreign fund in Russia. According to investigators, other financiers helped Browder.
Yury Chaika, Prosecutor General of Russia: "They were foreign investors who weren't registered as such in the US. They didn't pay taxes either in Russia or in the US. He's a clever man. I personally call him Yasha Browder, he has Moscow roots. He has a dark personality, he's an international-level criminal, a schemer".
Accountant Sergey Magnitsky was helping Browder for a long time. When questions arose about the British subject, he disappeared. Sergey Magnitsky was arrested several years later. He died in prison because of heart problems and pancreatitis. But Browder, to divert any suspicions, declared that Magnitsky was fighting corruption and was killed.
The controversial issue attracted Russian director Andrei Nekrasov, who showed no affection at all towards the state. Nekrasov made a movie about this story. He says that at first, his material was based on Browder's version, but after talking to the runaway financier, he realized Browder was lying.
Andrei Nekrasov: "Sergey Magnitsky was Browder's victim. He was his victim before dying because Browder tried to shift responsibility for his crimes on him, but, as I think, Sergey Magnitsky was Browder's victim after dying as well, you know, because pity for his fate is being used in a cynic and selfish way".
Taking into account the fact that Browder was convicted of fraud twice, he'll have problems not only at the Swiss border, as in total, he's convicted in absentia to 20 years in prison.
Vitaly Karmazin, Nikita Korneyev, and Andrei Shtukaturov, Vesti Call Center.
