DATE=9/20/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / SCANDAL (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254091
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO:  Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says 
investigators sent to Washington last week saw  no  
evidence that Russian criminals laundered billions of 
dollars through United States banks.  The money-
laundering charges have received wide publicity in U-S 
newspapers, but have been greeted with skepticism by 
the Russian media.  V-O-A's Peter Heinlein reports 
from Moscow.  

TEXT:  Prime Minister Putin admits that billions of 
dollars have been moved out of Russia to safer havens 
in the United States and other countries.  That 
practice, known as capital flight, is  not  
necessarily illegal.

But Mr. Putin brushed aside reporters' questions 
Monday about allegations that billions more in so-
called dirty money - the proceeds of criminal 
activities - has also found its way to the west. 

      ///PUTIN ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO...///

He says, "Our investigators exchanged information with 
their American colleagues.  Unfortunately - or 
fortunately - the media information about Russian 
money laundering has not been confirmed."

But United States, British and Russian investigators 
have previously been quoted as saying there is "strong 
evidence" that as much as $10 billion dollars in 
illegally obtained funds have been spirited out of 
Russia to the Bank of New York and other western 
financial institutions.  That amount may include 
International Monetary Fund (I-M-F) loan money.

Russia's Prosecutor General, Yuri Skuratov, says he 
has a list of 780 current and former government 
officials allegedly involved in a bond selling scheme 
in which billions of dollars were transferred out of 
the country, just days after the I-M-F deposited four-
point-eight billion dollars in Russia's central bank.

The Kremlin, however, has labeled the money-laundering 
reports part of an anti-Russia smear campaign.  A 
spokesman for President Boris Yeltsin this month 
pointed out that both Russia and the United States are 
gearing up for presidential elections.  He said, "it 
is clear we are dealing with a propaganda campaign of 
some kind."

Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov, however, says 
the corruption allegations cannot be so easily 
dismissed.  Mr. Zyuganov, a vocal Yeltsin opponent, 
told reporters Monday he believes the Kremlin has 
concocted an elaborate cover up because several senior 
officials are deeply involved in the scandal.  
(SIGNED)

NEB/PFH/GE/ENE/bk  



20-Sep-1999 10:48 AM LOC (20-Sep-1999 1448 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.