Dangerous Liaisons
by: Emily Topol
New York
American Media Continues to Expose Russian Corruption
 Western media elected Leonid Grigoriev the star of a new scandal |
The World Bank reported that it started an internal investigation following the Wall Street Journal's article about alleged abuses by its former official, Leonid Grigoriev. It is alleged that in 1993, Grigoriev, during his tenure as Advisor to the Russian Executive gave Inkombank management information which enabled it to predict with certainty the fluctuations of "vebovka" market (debt instrument of the Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs.) World Bank's rules strictly prohibit its officials from entering this kind of relationship. The day following the Wall Street Journal publication, the scandal was enthusiastically picked up by the New York Times, the London Times and other world media.
Although the Wall Street Journal article provoked the World Bank's internal investigation, the paper itself admits that Grigoriev's actions are likely not criminal and may at worse be a possible conflict of interest and that is only if proven by the investigation.
Why such commotion around Grigoriev? An official close to the investigation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that at this time everyone who ever had any contact with Inkombank is under suspicion. It is believed that Inkombank is in the center of the money laundering scandal involving the Bank of New York and the American press has widely reported on the investigation by the Criminal Investigations Bureau of the New York State Banking Department. "Any document showing that a Russian official received any money from Inkombank, even a reimbursement for a subway ride is perceived as evidence of a bribe" the official said.
" The World Bank
investigation
must dot the 'i'"Currently, Leonid Grigoriev heads the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a World Bank project designed to provide the Russian Government with economic analysis and consulting support. Annual "Reviews of Economic Policies" which the Bureau has been preparing for the past two years are considered in economic circles the best analytical publications of the reform period. From 1992 to 1997 Grigoriev worked in the Russian Mission of the World Bank and he is well known in the economic and financial circles in the US. It is also known that in 1993 Inkombank's president, Vladimir Vinogradov offered him to become the head of the New York office of Inkombank - neither of the two men made it a secret. In the context of the growing US campaign "against Russian corruption", this was apparently enough to make Grigoriev a scapegoat for all Inkombank's sins. The Wall Street Journal quotes Grigoriev -- the quote which I recite in its entirety because it explains with precision the nature of the first steps of the Russian banks in the West. "It was a whole new world. We all knew each other. It was like a kindergarten. We all had very little experience. Any Russian abroad had moral cause to help the emerging-market economy. Everyone was trying to create a new country, new institutions. Our understanding was very limited. [Everyone] was trying to help business understand what was going on in the world."
Leonid Grigoriev declines comment until the investigation is completed, although as the Wall Street Journal article suggests, he denies the authenticity of the document which is imputed to him. Officials, speaking with MN, also expressed their skepticism as regards its authenticity.
The "i" here must be dotted by the investigation of the World Bank, which has already been joined by the Russian Government. "In the US, as in Russia there is a concept of the presumption of innocence and a suspect has no obligation to prove that he did not commit the crime he stands accused of" said Alexander Fishkin, a director of the American Russian Law Institute. Nonetheless, Leonid Grigoriev, was suspended until the investigation is concluded.