Cash crimes amnesty for Russia?

CORRUPT Russian tycoons, bureaucrats and mafiamen could soon be given a remarkable chance to go legal. Support is growing in Moscow for an astonishing amnesty that would wipe the slate clean over billions of pounds of laundered money. Critics claim that such a move would be one of the biggest giveaways in history, at a stroke legalising - retrospectively - years of illicit money deals.

One influential parliamentary figure, Alexander Fedulov, wants all past 'economic crimes' to be forgiven. This includes tax evasion, illegal capital flight to offshore havens and hidden profits or incomes.

'We need to announce an amnesty,' agreed Russian central bank chairman Viktor Gerashchenko. He is eyeing billions now in foreign accounts which could play a key role in rebuilding Russia, if it can be coaxed back. 'This capital would work more actively and efficiently for the society here,' he said recently.

Significantly, backing also came from senior Moscow tax policeman Igor Pastukhov, who argued that newly declared illicit funds should be taxed at the current low income tax rate of 13%, not previous sky-high levels in place when evasion was at its peak in the 1990s.

A six-month grace period would 'let taxpayers think' before the amnesty closed. Russia's wealthiest ' oligarchs' - who made fortunes in the rush to capitalism under former president Boris Yeltsin - have long supported an amnesty.

The doyen of these communists turned-billionaires, Boris Berezovsky, is now in exile to avoid probes by Russian prosecutors. 'The only people who haven't broken any laws are those who have been asleep for the last 10 years,' he has said, demanding a financial amnesty. 'This is important to all of us - big business and the Government - to start afresh, with the businessmen now playing according to the new rules.' The scale of the black market is huge - one recent estimate is that up to £18bn is siphoned out of Russia annually.

'More than £70bn, or more than double Russia's annual budget, is circulating in the black economy,' said Pino Arlacchi, United Nations director for drug control and crime prevention. Critics say there is already an 'active repentance' clause in the tax system, which makes an amnesty unnecessary. 'This is a way for the elite to legalise the funds they have made illicitly by bleeding Russia dry for a decade,' said a Communist deputy.