Russia’s richest woman targeted by crack forces

Crack forces raided the office of Russia’s richest woman yesterday in a probe linked to emergency funds she received from a bank founded by the deposed mayor of Moscow – who is also her husband.

Yelena Baturina called the police sweep a political provocation that had nothing to do with the loan her Inteko construction company received in a complicated scheme from the Bank of Moscow.

“I know for certain that these searches have no relation to either our company or the Bank of Moscow,” Interfax quoted Ms Baturina as saying.

“This is simply an ordered (raid) and a form of (political) pressure,” she added.

Gun-toting policemen in masks later also searched the offices of the Bank of Moscow and apartments of several of its executives.

“The searches are being conducted within the frameworks of a criminal investigation into the embezzlement of 13 billion rubles from the Bank of Moscow,” an interior ministry spokesman said.

“The money received through this loan was transferred to the personal account of Ms Baturin,” interior ministry investigator Irina Dudukina said in televised remarks.

The probe into the disputed loan was launched only weeks after the dramatic departure of Yury Luzhkov from his mayoral seat over the same allegations. The Kremlin accused the mayor of corruption and investigators launched an inquiry into a 12.76 billion ruble ($435 million) loan the bank issued to a little known firm in 2009 that was allegedly nothing more than a shell company.

Various media reported that the small firm then went on to purchase a plot of land at what investigators believe was an inflated price from Ms Baturina’s debt-ridden Inteko company.

Inteko then allegedly used the proceeds to pay off a large chunk of its maturing debts and stay solvent.

The Vedomosti business daily said the company that acted as the intermediary in the transaction was partially owned by Bank of Moscow executives and had been set up only three months prior to the disputed land deal.

The Financial Times reported that the transaction took place on the same day as the Moscow city parliament approved a 15-billion-ruble transfer to the Bank of Moscow.

It said Russia’s interior ministry was checking whether the funds were illegally transferred to Ms Baturina to help her settle her debts.Ms Baturina’s whereabouts were unclear yesterday.

Mr Luzhkov has recently sought to establish residency in Latvia and Baturina is known to spend some of her time in Austria.