CORRUPTION Syndromes of Corruption

126 Syndromes of Corruption
of economists that Russian businesses pay an average of US$8 billion in
bribes annually (Rosbalt, 2003). Such figures are guesses at best, but
depict a reality qualitatively different from the cases we have analyzed
thus far.
Who are the oligarchs?
‘‘Oligarchs’’ is more of a popular political term than an analytical concept,
and there thus is no consensus as to who does or does not belong in the
category. Forbes magazine in 2003 estimated that there were seventeen
Russian billionaires, but not all would necessarily be oligarchs (Baltimore
Sun, November 9, 2003). Some accounts (Pribylovsky, 2003) point to
four main leaders and clans within the national political and administrative
elite and downplay the ‘‘financial oligarchs.’’ Others give more
credence to economic clan leaders, add Boris Yeltsin’s ‘‘family’’ – both
relatives and political insiders – to the mix (Bernstein, 2002; but Ryabov,
2003 dissents) and note a political-bureaucratic clan as well (Ivanidze,
2002). Still others point to eight or more business oligarchs and their
followings (Freeland, 2000, chs. 6, 7; Hoffman, 2002).
Most lists from 2003, however, included names such as Mikhail
Fridman, chair of an oil and banking consortium. Mikhail Khodorkovsky,
a former Deputy Fuel and Energy Minister, became Russia’s wealthiest
individual through aluminum, electricity generation, and mining, and
before his arrest in 2003 was emerging as an advocate of corporate
transparency. Vladimir Potanin, mastermind of the ‘‘loans for shares’’
scheme (see below), is a banker and owns a large share of Noril’sk Nickel.
Vladimir Gusinsky, former owner of the independent NTV television
network, is a Putin critic who was forced to sell many of his holdings
after an arrest in 2000. Oleg Deripaska was involved in the takeover of
the aluminum industry in the mid-1990s. Boris Berezovsky, formerly a
mathematician and Yeltsin adviser, once controlled Aeroflot and a television
network and has relocated to the United Kingdom, probably to
avoid investigations. Also in Britain is Roman Abramovich, a Berezovsky
associate, former governor of the Chukotka region in Eastern Siberia, and
former owner of Sibneft Oil. Abramovich’s latest venture has been the
purchase of Chelsea Football Club, now called ‘‘Chelski’’ by some wags.
Viktor Chernomyrdin, former Soviet Oil Minister and Yeltsin-era Prime
Minister, is a former CEO of, and still deeply involved in, Gazprom, the
state natural-gas monopoly. Others sometimes listed as oligarchs include
Mikhail Prokhorov, Viktor Vakselberg, and Rem Vyakhirev (Bernstein,
2002; Andrusenko, 2003; Arvedlund, 2003; Baltimore Sun, November
9, 2003). The Yeltsin ‘‘family’’ retains great influence: Vladimir Putin’s