As I promised, we prepared a letter to the Swiss prosecutor’s office based on materials obtained at the request of the court hearing Vladlen_I_feel_bitter_Stepanov’s lawsuit for the protection of his honor and dignity. Let me remind you that although Stepanov’s emotional distress and loss of 8 kg (about 17.6 lbs) will cost me 100,000 rubles, we were able to establish документально: Stepanov has no legal income that could explain the millions of euros in his Swiss accounts:
2. Stepanov de jure divorced his wife—the former head of Tax Inspectorate No. 28—only in 2010. Which means that their property, from villas in Dubai to money in Switzerland, was marital property jointly owned by the spouses.
Money disappeared from the budget. 2) The paperwork was signed by Stepanova, the head of Tax Inspectorate No. 28. 3) Million-dollar accounts appear in Stepanova’s husband’s name. 4) The husband cannot explain the origin of the funds. What is that? Exactly: laundering proceeds of crime. All of this has serious legal significance for the money-laundering case against Stepanov opened in Switzerland. I repeat my position: I believe that this is our money. It should be returned to the taxpayers of the Russian Federation. This is the letter we sent: *Madame Maria Antonella Bino Deputy Attorney General Office of the Attorney General of the Swiss Confederation Avenue des Bergières 42 1004 Lausanne Fax No. +41 21 644 33 20 24 October 2011 Re: Further Evidence Regarding Criminal Complaint Relating to Vladlen Stepanov and Olga Stepanova in connection with money laundering pertaining to accounts held at Credit Suisse (Zurich) in the names of Aikate Properties, Inc., Arivust Holdings Limited, and related accounts Dear Mrs Bino: * I a*m a Russian political and social activist focused on corruption issues in Russia. My background is reasonably well summarized in my Wikipedia biography, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Navalny. I am sending this letter to provide you further evidence of criminal activity regarding two Russians in connection with the above-captioned case, one of whom has been a highly ranked Russian tax official, relating to account activity in Switzerland at Credit Suisse (Zurich) (“Credit Suisse”). In connection with my work, I have previously published on my website (http://navalny.livejournal.com/578669.html) allegations of money laundering and corruption involving these two individuals, Olga Stepanova and Vladlen Stepanov, whose assets I understand have been frozen by your office in connection with their illicit financial transactions at Credit Suisse. This information was disclosed publicly by Vladlen Stepanov himself in his open letter to me in the RBC newspaper (http://stepanov-vlad.livejournal.com/728.html). In response to my publication of the allegations relating to their corruption and money laundering in relation to the film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYDJYTcgnLo, Vladlen Stepanov has sued me in a Moscow court for defamation. In the course of those proceedings, at my request, the Moscow court subpoenaed various Russian state bodies to produce documents on Stepanov’s income for the period 2003–2009 as well as the facts concerning his marital status. I am providing you with those documents in Enclosures 1 and 2 with English translations. These documents confirm that he has no legitimate explanation for the $39 million in assets he and his wife, Olga Stepanova, acquired in Moscow, Dubai, and Switzerland, and effectively confirm that he committed tax fraud in Russia. The documents provided by various Russian government agencies to the Moscow Lyublino District Court reveal that Vladlen Stepanov’s official income averaged $4,340 per annum over the past four years and totaled $346,081 for the period from 2003 to 2009, which together cover the time of all of his transactions through Credit Suisse accounts in Switzerland. These documents show that Vladlen Stepanov has no legitimate explanation for more than 99 percent of the assets that he controls and that have flowed through his bank accounts, including the millions of dollars and euros that have moved through the accounts he held at Credit Suisse. The documents from the Lyublino District Court in Moscow also provide evidence that Vladlen Stepanov and Olga Stepanova were divorced only on December 16, 2010, showing that previous public statements made by Vladlen Stepanov that they had been divorced a decade or more earlier were false. As you may be aware, in Russia, divorces among the business and political classes are commonly undertaken to provide a formal legal separation between spouses for tax or business reasons, even when the two persons are still living together as husband and wife and remain partners in their personal lives. However, the documentation provided by the court shows that the legal “divorce” between Vladlen Stepanov and Olga Stepanova did not take place until December 16, 2010, and is objective evidence that the funds they had amassed up until then involved corruption. This document also confirms that, in accordance with Russian law, Vladlen Stepanov's wife, Olga Stepanova, was the effective owner of at least 50% of all the assets registered in Vladlen Stepanov’s name until December 16, 2010. As such, Olga Stepanova was the beneficiary of tens of millions of dollars (or euros) in community property at the same time that she, in her capacity as the head of Moscow Tax Office No. 28, was authorizing illegal tax rebates from the Treasury of the Russian Federation totaling up to $230 million. The documents provided in the Moscow court proceedings confirm that, as the head of Moscow Tax Office No. 28, Olga Stepanova failed to report assets she owned on her public disclosure forms, as required for public officials under Russian law as an anti-corruption measure. These documents also show massive tax evasion on the part of Vladlen Stepanov (who has been a Russian tax resident throughout his life) in light of the gross disparity between his unofficial income and his reported income. For your further background, Olga Stepanova, head of Tax Office No. 28, has been responsible for systematic illegal tax rebates in Russia, as summarized at http://russian-untouchables.com/eng/olga-stepanova/, also in December 2007 Olga Stepanova authorized the illegal rebate of the bulk of 5.4 billion rubles ($230 million) in income tax previously paid by subsidiaries of the Hermitage Fund (criminal complaint: http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/D259.pdf). Previously, in November–December 2006, Olga Stepanova authorized the illegal rebate of the bulk of 2.9 billion rubles ($107 million) in income tax previously paid by subsidiaries of RenGaz, managed by Renaissance Capital (criminal complaint: http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/D263.pdf an English translation http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/D284.pdf). Later, in 2008, Olga Stepanova also authorized an illegal rebate of 1 billion rubles ($42 million) in VAT to be paid to OOO “TechProm” (criminal complaint: http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/D269.pdf an English translation http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/D285.pdf). I enclose the documents that prove that Vladlen Stepanov had no declared source of income for the funds that he moved through his accounts in Switzerland, that his and Stepanova’s statements of their net worth to the Russian authorities were false and fraudulent, and that provide the actual dates of his marriage to, and his “divorce” from, Olga Stepanova, thereby documenting that the funds controlled by Stepanov were also the undeclared and illicit property of Olga Stepanova. In summary: The Credit Suisse accounts controlled by Vladlen Stepanov, which handled funds that were the community property of him and his wife, Olga Stepanova, at the time she was a senior tax official in Russia, contained funds that vastly exceeded his (their) legitimate sources of income during the relevant periods, and, it would appear, throughout his life. * Circumstantial and documentary evidence suggest that the funds that moved through Vladlen Stepanov’s accounts at Credit Suisse or elsewhere in Switzerland derived from funds that Olga Stepanova fraudulently refunded from the Russian Treasury in schemes carried out by corrupt Russian officials and criminals for their collective benefit, which included, but were likely not limited to, the funds relating to the Hermitage Fund. * Vladlen Stepanov and Olga Stepanova were married at the time the transactions took place, including all relevant transactions at Credit Suisse, making her benefit from these funds corrupt. I*t *is my hope that the new documents provide further evidence that you may find helpful in connection with your decision to freeze the assets of accounts controlled by Vladlen Stepanov on his own and Olga Stepanova’s behalf, and to provide a basis for their ultimate confiscation by the Swiss authorities. I also hope that you are able to broaden the investigation to explore money laundering by others involved with Vladlen Stepanov and Olga Stepanova, who were participants in the ongoing criminal conspiracy that generated the funds that moved through Vladlen Stepanov’s accounts. Doing so is important. The functions of Russia’s Interior Ministry and Tax Ministry have already been substantially compromised and damaged by the abuses undertaken by the officials and criminals who have partnered in the corruption. Already, one man of integrity, Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, has been killed in a Russian prison as a result of the efforts of these persons to cover up their ongoing conspiracy, uncovered by Mr. Magnitsky and his colleagues. Because of the scope, breadth, and capacity of the conspiracy and the high-level government positions of some of its participants, the conspiracy threatens the integrity and viability of a number of Russian state institutions. I remain available to provide any further assistance. Sincerely, Alexei Navalny Enclosures T*hose who have trouble with the “American language” can find a rough translation here. Vladlen Stepanov can lose another eight kilograms (about 17.6 lbs). And file another hundred lawsuits against me to defend the honor and dignity he does not possess. His merry thug gang can keep manipulating Russian courts and law enforcement agencies. Let’s see what happens in Switzerland. Yes, it is strange that to protect our money and our citizens we have to appeal to Switzerland. But that is how it turned out: the Vladlen Stepanovs have seized power in Russia. It is temporary.