A mafia-style gang has netted up to $700 million in the biggest bank fraud in Russian history, Moscow newspapers said Friday.
They said about 30 people from the Caucasian region of Chechenya had been arrested.Nezavisimaya Gazeta said the Russian central bank transferred billions in April and May to the accounts of bogus Chechen businessmen on the basis of forged money orders of the Chechen National Bank. Other newspapers said the money orders were in the name of commercial banks.
Rabochaya Tribuna said the men, from a rebellious region in Russia's northern Caucasus area, promptly withdrew the money and took it out of Moscow under armed guard.
Moscow police have been particularly hard-pressed to cope with mafia-style bands from Chechenya, associated with growing violence and organized crime in the capital. The scale of this crime, if confirmed, could have broad political and national economic ramifications.