FILTHY RICH RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRES MORE DIRTY THAN ANYTHING.They're called the "oligarchs" and the "elite' in Russia and their every whim is catered to by Russia's governing body the DUMA. In a country of 150 million citizens only between one and two thousand have reached the status of U.S. Dollar Billionaire or Millionaire.
"Oligarch" Roman Abramovich, who plunked down nearly US$250 Million to purchase the London Soccer Club Chelsea.
By Russian standards, 60% of the Russian population lives below the poverty line, and another 10% would be considered living in poverty by Western standards.
Yet out of these couple of thousand Super-Rich, very few, actually almost a nonexistent few, have made their fortunes as entrepreneurs who have managed THEIR privatized industries professionally. Rather, these fortunes are founded on graft, greed; basically Dirty Money stolen brazenly from the public domain once these 'oligarchs" took private control of their companies given to them by the Russian Government.
The privatization of Russian industry has become a robbers paradise. Almost US$250 Billion has disappeared into the crime ridden financial air of Russia and into the clean air of Western Europe and Tax Havens around the world. Every day, until recently, there were daily flights out of Moscow to the Turkish side of Cyprus, where several more than willing bankers took in billions of dollars of these stolen funds for a "cut of the action."
Although these 'oligarchs" love to live in opulence, they naturally detest the intense Press coverage their outlandish purchases produces.
Russia didn't officially have ANY Billionaires or Millionaires until several were "outed" in 2002.
To put this all in perspective, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stated that there were 5,850,000 American millionaires in 2000. The United Kingdom has some 50,000 millionaires.
Russia, on the other hand, has Dirty Money Super-Rich with the only laurels to rest on being that they were in the right place at the right time to Loot their own Government through payoffs to the proper officials in return for owning their companies and selling them as fast as they could. Gives a whole new meaning to the saying; 'From Rags To Riches."
Super-Rich: Russian Style.
Regards,
Charlie
