The entertaining correspondence between VTB Bank and its minority shareholder Vasily Sidorov, a former MTS executive and now managing partner at the investment firm Euroatlantic Investmentsnbsp, continues. If you remember, I published his first letter, in which Vasily raised reasonable questions about the oddities surrounding the deal to acquire Bank of Moscow. There was no reply. Instead of answering, the wayward former Komsomol member (the Soviet Communist youth organization) Sidorov was scolded at VTB’s minority shareholders committee, which is under, uhhh... strong influence from VTB management. Basically, posting letters on the internet is supposedly unconstructive:
http://www.vtb.ru/upload/iblock/e26/vtb_ksa_protokol_2011_No11.pdf But the wayward former Komsomol member (the Soviet Communist youth organization) Sidorov continues down the slippery path of voicing uncomfortable questions. His latest letter to VTB’s management has been published on Slon. It makes for fascinating reading. Take a look if only to appreciate the scale of the problem and the sums being sought.
And VTB is a state-owned bank. Eighty-five percent is government-owned. Remarkable things are going on.