(545.5261) WISE Amsterdam - The report was presented at a closed session of the anti-corruption committee on 20 February, but was not made public until 2 March, when it was made public by Greenpeace Moscow. It documents dozens of private business activities carried on by Adamov since the early 1990's. It lists ten companies set up by Adamov since 1990, two of which were set up after he became Minister in 1998. As well as Russian companies, the list includes one French and three US companies.
In one of these companies, Omeka Ltd., Adamov controlled US$3.15 million of the company's US$5 million in assets at the end of 1999, and his wife controlled a further US$1.5 million. According to Greenpeace Moscow, this consulting and management company has current contracts with Tekhsnabexport, the wholly owned import arm of Minatom, and stands to benefit from imports of spent fuel. Greenpeace speculated that this was the real reason why the Duma decided on 22 February - two days after the anti-corruption committee meeting - to delay the second reading of the law amendments allowing import of spent fuel (see WISE News Communique 544.5254, "Duma delays decision"). This was denied by Minatom and others.
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DUMA DELAYS DECISION AGAIN |
Omeka's activities are not just limited to consultancy in the nuclear field. According to the report, Omeka bought a US$200,000 house for Adamov in the US State of Pennsylvania and opened a US$250,000 bank account in Switzerland, where Adamov's daughter attends university in Bern. The company owns stock in a housing services company in Pennsylvania and a medical services company in Michigan, plus other investments in Russia and Ukraine. Omeka also provided US$34,000 worth of flooring to NIKIET, the secret energy technologies institute headed by Adamov from 1986 to 1999, and continues to provide US$50,000 a year of computer equipment to the institute.
Other Adamov companies including the US-based Energy Pool, Inc. and the Russian real estate company Logic Realty, based at the same address as NIKIET, were also involved in transferring hundreds of thousands of US dollars for Adamov and other Minatom officials, according to the report.
Besides the allegations of financial benefits, Adamov was also accused of appointing people with no nuclear experience to key positions in the ministry. Some of these people were listed as shareholders of Adamov's companies before he became Minister.
Further allegations concern Adamov's handling of international contracts. Under Adamov's direction in 1996, NIKIET signed a contract with Iran to assess plans for a nuclear facility in violation of regulations, according to the report. These allegations come on top of Adamov's support for supplying reactors to India (see WISE News Communique 539.5225, "Pakistan, India: New nuclear weapons race?") which would be in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
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Before the end of March the European Commission will discuss and most probably recommend to the
Council of Ministers of Finance (ECOFIN) a proposal to increase the lending ability of Euratom. People and organizations within the EU interested to be of help in putting pressure on their
Minister of Finance should contact Patricia Lorenz, at FOE Europe, Rue Blanche 29, 1060
Brussels, Belgium |
Minatom rejected the allegations. "Some groups want to shake up the government, which supports the program of importing foreign spent fuel to Russia", Minatom representatives said. Allegations of corruption have been made before and denied by Adamov, who stated in the Duma on 23 April 1999 that he had never received any business revenues on his private bank account since becoming Minister. By comparison, the report of the anti-corruption commission said that when Adamov applied for a Diner's Club card in 1996, he stated his total annual income at over US$120,000. However, even if Adamov was correct in saying that he did not receive money through his private bank account, this does not invalidate the allegations involving money channeled through company bank accounts, or other benefits such as company-owned houses.
Tobias Muenchmeyer of Greenpeace International said, "Adamov has to be fired immediately and the activities of the Ministry of Atomic Energy must be investigated. Plans to import radioactive waste must be stopped when they come before the Duma on March 22".
It is not just environmental groups that are callling for Adamov to be fired. Adamov has many rivals including directors of Unified Energy Systems of Russia. He also made enemies by firing many top Minatom officials. Whether or not Adamov survives will therefore depend on the outcome of the power struggle within the Russian energy sector.
Sources:
- Greenpeace press release, 2 March 2001
- The Moscow Times, 5 March and 6 March 2001
- Bellona, 7 March 2001
Contact:Bellona Foundation, P. O. Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
Tel: +47 23 23 46 00. Fax: +47 22 38 38 62.
Email info@bellona.no
Web: www.bellona.no
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