- Title: RUSSIA: INVESTIGATORS DROP FRAUD PROBE INTO MEDIA MAGNATE VLADIMIR GUSINSKY.
- Date: 27th July 2000
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JULY 27, 2000)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/MV/CU: MEDIA-MOST HEADQUARTERS, OFFICE OF MEDIA-MOST PRESS SPOKESMAN DMITRI OSTALSKY/ OFFICE (4 SHOTS) 0.24 2. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian ) DMITRI OSTALSKY: "Yesterday night, we were officially informed by the General-Prosecutor's office that the criminal case against Gusinsky is finished and all restrictions against him have been lifted under the authority of senior investigator Nikolaev." 0.57 3. CU: CLOSE UP OF DOCUMENT 1.04 4. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) DMITRI OSTALSKY: "I simply cannot understand what is going on. It could be anything from a misunderstanding to the fact that someone does not agree with the decision." 1.19 OFF-AIR PROGRAMMING NTV RUSSIAN TELEVISION (NO RESTRICTIONS) 5. LEAD-IN FOR NTV TELEVISION NEWS "SEVODNYA" 1.39 MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 6. GV/MV/CU: MASKED AND ARMED OFFICERS FROM THE RUSSIAN TAX POLICE SEALING OFF ENTRANCE TO MEDIA-MOST BUILDING (4 SHOTS) 2.02 7. MV/CU: VLADIMIR GUSINSKY AND AIDES SITTING AT TABLE, TALKING AND ARGUING WITH UNIFORMED OFFICIAL FROM GENERAL-PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE (3 SHOTS) 2.16 8. GV/MV: VLADIMIR GUSINSKY'S DACHA OUTSIDE OF MOSCOW/ OFFICIALS FROM THE GENERAL-PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE AND INTELLIGENCE SERVICES WALKING THROUGH GUSINSKY'S OFFICE, TAKING INVENTORY OF HIS PERSONAL POSSESSIONS (6 SHOTS) 2.50 9. CU/GV/PAN: VLADIMIR GUSINSKY AND LAWYERS LEAVING GENERAL-PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE AFTER QUESTIONING 3.11 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 11th August 2000 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVA6RCLEW83WTMXQASFYZD7EJWJG
- Story Text: Russian investigators have dropped their
politically-charged case against Vladimir Gusinsky, owner of
Russia's only national independent television network and
largest private media holding.
The Russian general-prosecutor's office has called off
its fraud investigation into Gusinsky, cancelled orders to
seize his property, and rescinded legal measures banning the
media baron from travelling outside the country.
Free of the ban, Gusinsky immediately left Russia to
reunite with his family in Spain.
His spokesman in Moscow, Dmitri Ostalsky said that Gusinsky
had been officially informed by the General-Prosecutor's
office that the criminal case against Gusinsky was finished
and all restrictions against him had been lifted under the
authority of senior investigator Nikolaev.
Ostalsky said criminal investigations involving the
privatisation of a St Petersburg television station which had
formed the basis of the charges against Gusinsky would
continue, but Gusinsky was no longer accused in the case.
"I simply cannot understand what is going on. It could be
anything from a misunderstanding to the fact that someone does
not agree with the decision," Ostalsky said.
Ostalsky denied Gusinsky had cut a deal to win his
freedom.
Gusinksy had been questioned and jailed for three days in
June in connection with criminal investigations over a St
Petersburg television station connected to his holdings.
Gusinsky had said it was part of a Kremlin plot to
intimidate him and silence his media companies, often critical
of President Vladimir Putin and his military campaign in
Chechnya.
Gusinsky's jailing sparked widespread protests and worries
that Putin, a former KGB spy, was intent on a general
clampdown on freedom of speech.
Gusinsky owns Russia's only national independent television
station, NTV, as well as other influential media outlets such
as a leading radio station and newspaper.
He is also one of the nation's leading businessmen,
commonly referred to as "oligarchs," who have been targeted by
law enforcement agencies in what many have described as a
Kremlin-driven crackdown on those who became wealthy in the
1990s.
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