They have been joined recently by Swiss prosecutors who are equally skeptical. PNS contributor Lucy Komisar is a freelance journalist who, sponsored by PNS, spent three months in Russia on a U.S. National Research Council grant to investigate the impact of offshore bank and corporate secrecy. The IMF insists the Central Bank used the money as intended. In Russia, such defenses are widely discounted. It's the problem with all the accountants.
Companies keep two sets of books.
It was purportedly given to allow major Russian banks to buy rubles and stabilize the currency. In this, Chernomyrdin was involved. The Central Bank told us this money was used to buy securities. The Finance Ministry said that part went to the salaries of Russian government employees and part for other purposes. Prosecutor Yuri Skuratov, who angered the Yeltsin government by repeatedly digging into scandals, confirmed that he had been given copies of requests to transfer money between companies with bank accounts in Germany and Australia.