Luzhkov throws allegations of corruption back at government

Watching the clock might help the authorities fight corruption, according to Moscow’s ex-mayor Yuri Luzhkov, recently called as witness in the Bank of Moscow fraud saga.

Instead of throwing allegations of ill-management and corruption at him, officials should better ask Vladimir Resin, the first deputy mayor who managed to stay in office after Luzhkov’s much publicized dismissal last year, about the watch he’s wearing, the former city boss said.

Time costs money

The cost of the watch in question is estimated at about $1 million by Vedomosti, but Luzhkov himself never asked his deputy about his Pieces d’Exception Pressy Grande Complication by DeWitt, widely discussed by the media.

“We’ve got a law enforcement system. They should be observing [officials’] integrity and seeing whether their actions comply with the law,” the ex-city chief said. “I’m not an investigator. I’m not a security policeman.”

Luzhkov’s interview came shortly after Sergei Naryshkin, the presidential administration head, said Luzhkov’s removal was due to his “extremely inefficient management of the city” and “off-the-scale level of corruption that Luzhkov and his people permitted.”

To conscience and the courts

“I’m going to leave that statement to Naryshkin’s conscience,” Luzhkov said in return. As for the allegation of corruption, however, the former mayor he had filed a case for slander. The demanding 1 million rubles compensation claim has been registered by Moscow’s Presnensky Court, Alexei Melnikov, Luzhkov’s lawyer, told RIA Novosti.

Luzhkov said the case of Bank of Moscow was politically motivated, but he was ready to come to Russia for questioning to “protect his honor.”

The bank, which was fully owned by Moscow’s City Hall while Luzhkov was in office, is suspected of granting illegal credit for land purchased from Yelena Baturina, the ex-mayor’s wife and the then owner of one of Russia’s largest development companies Inteko.

Husband and wife team

Baturina also said she was going to take the case to the court. “Either he has to prove that, or resign and apologize,” she said in an interview to TV channel Dozhd.

Baturina was the world’s third wealthiest self-made woman, according to Forbes, a few months before her husband was kicked out of office. After Luzhkov’s ignominious departure her fortune halved.

Shortly after that departure Baturina started looking to get rid of her assets, claiming she wanted to do business abroad. The recent sale of Inteko was due to pressure from the Kremlin, she said in the interview.

Laughable

But the Kremlin is not amused by the Luzhkovs’ “laughable” claims. “To talk about some kind of political hounding of the former mayor of Moscow is laughable,” Natalya Timakova, President Medvedev’s press-secretary.

“If Yury Luzhkov, relaxing on his pension abroad, considers himself to be guiltless he should not talk about this in interview but without question return to Moscow, return and give evidenced to investigators,” Interfax cited her as saying.