RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – March 12, 2013
TODAY: Magnitsky trial postponed again; state struggles to pin down Gazprom spending; lawmaker denies accusations about luxury property; Nabiullina may take charge of central bank; Sochi Olympics to highlight treatment of disabled population; Texas stands by Shatto ruling.
The trial of dead lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was postponed on its first scheduled day yesterday, partly because the defense attorneys had petitioned for the trial to be delayed until May, and partly because they then reportedly failed to show up at the trial. RFE/RL meanwhile puts Magnitsky’s large-scale fraud investigation, ongoing at the time of his death, into context: ‘What if $230 million went missing and no one wanted to get it back?’ The bid to introduce a European Magnitsky List is gaining momentum. Gazprom is state-run, but the Deputy Economy Minister admits that ‘even we, to put it mildly, can’t always see where, how much, and why so much money is being spent’. President Vladimir Putin meanwhile wants state companies to provide authorities with informal information about their monthly deals. Senior lawmaker Irina Yarovaya has denied media reports that she failed to declare ownership of the $2.9 million Moscow apartment that she reportedly lives in, saying that the apartment is owned by her daughter and that its value had been overstated. Yarovaya, who is, ironically, the head of the Kremlin’s anti-corruption committee, commented that the allegations were ‘nothing more than dirty innuendo’.