Businessman reports pressure after his report on corruption schemes in Sochi build-up

Valery Morozov, head of the Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) "Moskonversprom", who stated earlier about corruption schemes used in construction of Olympic objects in Sochi with participation of Kremlin officials, believes that he is under pressure in the form of unjustified claims of tax authorities. The Tax Inspection has moved a bill of 113 million roubles to him.

Let us remind you that in early June Mr Morozov reported the bribes claimed from him for the tender on reconstruction of the block "Primorskiy" of Sanatorium "Sochi", where the governmental delegation will be accommodated during the Olympics. According to his version, the bribe was demanded from him by Vladimir Leschevskiy, deputy head of the Department of Capital Construction at the Administration of Affairs of the Russian President. The official denied Morozov's accusations; however, The Russian General Prosecutor's Office started a check of this information.

Later, Morozov said that his company was removed from participation in tenders, while the Administration of Affairs of the Russian President paid 800 million US dollars for the works already made by Morozov's company in Sochi to another company associated with the Administration's officials.

After that, the businessman reported that he was actually tortured by tax audits; and yesterday he received an act stating that his company "Moskonversprom" made payments to companies, which did not perform any works. According to Morozov, these were the companies imposed on him by Vladimir Leschevskiy, against which the ICPO (Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office) of Russia opened a criminal case in August. Tax officers believe that with these actions Morozov understate his profits and hence - the taxes, the "Kommersant" writes.

Let us note here that after the June and July Morozov's statements, the Kremlin made a massive cadre reshuffle. Sergey Sysolyatin, Deputy Head of the Chief Control Department of the Administration of Affairs of the President, who was responsible for resort construction, was sacked. Nikolai Mikheev, head of the Department was forced to retire.

Although the Administration of Affairs of the President stated that dismissals had nothing to do with the corruption case of Vladimir Leschevskiy, the Kremlin thinks differently - Mikheev, allegedly, failed to react to malversations, which should have been prevented by the Control Department, while Sysolyatin was directly overseeing the resort construction, the newspaper "Vedomosti" wrote in August.

Mr Morozov said that all the documents on the companies, through which bribes were paid, were confiscated from him by the tax office, where he is now routinely summoned for questioning. He suspects that tax authorities want to initiate a criminal case against him and seek a reason for moving charges, as Morozov still had been enticed into corruption schemes, while the tax inspection would hardly take into account the fact that he then revealed them, the "Svobodnaya Pressa" wrote.

In early August, Vladimir Kozhin, head of the Administration of Affairs of the Russian President, filed lawsuits on protection of honour and dignity against the "Novaya Gazeta" and "Sovershenno Secretno" (Top Secret), where Morozov had applied for help. The businessman himself was a co-respondent for these claims. Recently similar lawsuits were filed by Leschevskiy and Smirnov.

Valery Morozov also asserts that investigator Olkhovnikov managed to destroy some important evidences, such as the operative video and audio recordings made during the investigatory experiment, when Leschevskiy received the last portion of the bribe.

By the way, the 15 million roubles that Morozov had granted for the above investigatory experiment disappeared.