Sergei Storchak

Sergei Storchak Сергей Сторчак
Deputy Finance Minister of Russia
Incumbent
Assumed office November 2005
Personal details
Born	(1954-06-08) June 8, 1954 Olevsk, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Russian
Political party	No affiliation

THE PRIMITIVE AND ILLEGAL JAPANESE HUMPBACK WHALE SLAUGHTER HAS BEGUN

Sergei Anatolievich Storchak (Template:Lang-ru) (born June 8 1954 in Olevsk, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine SSR) is a Deputy Finance Minister of Russia, Director of the Finance Ministry International Financial Relations, National Debt and Financial Assets Department. Storchak became one of Russia's three deputy finance ministers in November 2005. He has specialized in international financial relations, and has been a prominent figure in negotiations over paying off Soviet-era debt. He negotiated Russia's repayment of its debt to the Paris Club of creditor nations, which it completed last year. Storchak also oversees the $148 billion stabilization fund, which collects windfall revenues from oil exports.

Detention

On November 15 2007, Storchak was detained by the Russian police as a part of a criminal investigation. "The detention took place outside the ministry. It may be related to criminal cases against a third party, not finance ministry officials," the ministry said in a statement. Prosecutors later confirmed the detention of Storchak and two businessmen on suspicion of "attempting large-scale embezzlement from the Russian state budget through fraud".

The two businessmen were later confirmed as Viktor Zakharov, general director of Sodexim, a little-known Moscow-based firm; and Vadim Volkov, president of the Interregional Investment Bank (MIB) in Moscow. MIB labels itself as "one of the largest investment banks of the Russian Federation" /.../ "Basic credit and investment activities are shipbuilding, development of mineral deposits, high technologies". Sodexim, which organized a Russian medical equipment exhibition in Baghdad in 2002, is listed on MIB's web site as one of its top clients. It undertakes "various trade operations" and carried out 13 million rubles ($530,000) worth of business last year, Interfax news agency said.

A source close to the investigation told Reuters that the detention of Storchak is part of a probe into the theft of state funds in debt deals, including with Iraq. "There is a big group of people under investigation and there will be new detentions. It is all related to our state debt and the schemes of its redemption, when up to 30 percent of funds were disappearing," the source told Reuters. "Storchak was detained because he was signing all (the debt-related documents). A number of banks are involved ... and people in the government administration," the source added.

A source close to Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told Reuters he "could not rule out" that the detention was part of a campaign against Storchak's powerful boss ahead of the parliamentary election on December 2. President Vladimir Putin promoted Kudrin, his long-term ally, to the rank of Deputy Prime Minister in a reshuffle in September.

Ekho Moskvy radio station and Interfax news agency reported, quoting unidentified sources, that Storchak had been due to fly to South Africa on November 15, for a meeting of finance ministers of the 20 most industrialized and important emerging economies. But he did not show up on the government's plane. In South Africa, Kudrin defended his deputy and urged a fair investigation Storchak last spoke publicly the same day he was detained when he criticized the central bank's proposal to start using the open market to convert Russian rubles into foreign currencies for the stabilization fund.

External links

• Ministry of Finance of the Russia Official website