Swiss efforts
to establish a firm linkage failed as did their attempt to implicate
several banks in the Italian canton of Ticino. The Swiss - in
collaboration with half a dozen national investigation bureaus,
including the FBI - were more successful in Italy proper, where they
were able to apprehend a few dozen suspects in an elaborate
undercover operation.
FIMACO's name emerged rather early in the swirl of rumors and
denials. At the IMF's behest, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was
commissioned by Russia's central bank to investigate the
relationship between the Russian central bank and its Channel
Islands offshoot, Financial Management Company Limited, immediately
when the accusations surfaced.
Skuratov unearthed $50 billion in transfers of the nation's hard
currency reserves from the central bank to FIMACO, which was
majority-owned by Eurobank, the central bank's Paris-based daughter
company. According to PwC, Eurobank was 23 percent owned by "Russian
companies and private individuals".
Dubinin and his successor, Gerashchenko, admit that FIMACO was used
to conceal Russia's assets from its unrelenting creditors, notably
the Geneva-based Mr. Nessim Gaon, whose companies sued Russia for
$600 million. Gaon succeeded to freeze Russian accounts in
Switzerland and Luxemburg in 1993.
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