MOSCOW -- President Boris Yeltsin and his two daughters are under investigation for allegedly taking bribes from a Swiss businessman, who reportedly gave them credit cards for their personal use, said a Russian prosecutor who was suspended earlier this year after clashing with the Kremlin.
In an interview with Knight Ridder at his government-owned dacha outside Moscow, Yuri Skuratov offered new allegations that high-ranking Russian officials took millions of dollars in bribes from the Swiss-based company Mabetex in exchange for lucrative contracts with the Kremlin.Skuratov, who oversaw a series of other high-profile corruption cases, said Yeltsin's youngest daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko, one of the president's closest advisers, played a dominant role in his dismissal after Kremlin officials learned he was investigating the family's suspected involvement in what the Russian media have dubbed the "Swiss Connection."
But Skuratov, an ally of one of Yeltsin's most powerful political rivals, said he also found no evidence that loans to Russia from the International Monetary Fund were used improperly. And he joined Russian politicians in contending that a money-laundering scandal involving billions of dollars funneled through the Bank of New York is "being overdramatized."
An Italian newspaper last week was the first to implicate the Yeltsin family directly in the Swiss controversy. Both the Kremlin and Behgjet Pacolli, the head of Mabetex, vigorously deny allegations that Pacolli gave Yeltsin and his two daughters, Dyachenko, 39, and Yelena Okulova, 42, credit cards and $1 million to cover personal expenses for the presidential entourage during a 1994 trip to Budapest, Hungary.
The newspaper, Corriere della Sera, which claims to have credit card receipts, described Dyachenko as the biggest spender, saying she rang up thousands of dollars in a day.
Russian and Swiss authorities are continuing their investigation, putting Yeltsin and his inner circle under intense pressure as they fend off a welter of corruption charges now collectively labeled "Kremlingate."
Skuratov, while cautious about discussing the case, hinted that his investigation had found indications of credit card use but said he had no knowledge of cash payments.