[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2259-S2260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              THREAT OF ORGANIZED CRIME IN EASTERN EUROPE

  Mr. NUNN. Madam President, in May of last year the Senate Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing on the growing threat of 
organized crime in Eastern Europe and the countries of the former 
Soviet Union. This hearing featured an historic joint appearance by 
Louis Freeh, the Director of the FBI, Hans-Ludwig Zachert, the 
President of Germany's Bundeskriminalamt, and General Mikhail Yegorov, 
the head of Russia's Organized Crime Control Department.
  In his prepared statement submitted to the subcommittee, General 
Yegorov made reference to an Austrian company by the name of Nordex, 
implying that its president was an individual known as Umar Vokov, who 
is suspected by Russian authorities of underground criminal activity. 
Recently, the subcommittee has received a letter from the real 
president of Nordex, a Mr. G. Loutchansky, disputing General Yegorov's 
statement and denying any relationship between Nordex and Umar Vokov. 
Mr. Loutchansky also provided the subcommittee with a letter from the 
Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs to Nordex's attorney in which the 
Ministry accepted Nordex's assurances concerning Vokov and expressed 
regret to Nordex for any inaccuracies in General Yegorov's statement.
  Mr. Loutchansky had sought to have these letters added to the 
subcommittee's hearing record in order to correct any misimpressions 
which could result from the printing of General Yegorov's original 
statement. Unfortunately, by the time the subcommittee received Mr. 
Loutchansky's request the hearing record had already gone to print. 
While I have directed that Mr. Loutchansky's material be included in 
the official exhibits to the hearing, I believe it is important that 
they also be placed on the public record. For this reason, I would ask 
that the correspondence between Mr. Loutchansky and the subcommittee 
and the letter from the Russian Ministry of the Internal Affairs to 
Nordox's attorney be reprinted in the Congressional Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                      U.S. Senate,


                            Committee on Governmental Affairs,

                                 Washington, DC, February 7, 1995.
     Mr. G. Loutchansky,
     President, Nordex G.m.b.H.,
     Vienna, Austria
       Dear Mr. Loutchansky: The Permanent Subcommittee on 
     Investigations has received your letter of December 2, 1994, 
     in which you dispute a statement in the prepared testimony of 
     First Deputy Minister Mikhail Yegorov submitted to the 
     Subcommittee in connection with its May 25, 1994 hearing on 
     ``International Organized Crime and Its Impact on the United 
     States.'' This statement concerned an alleged relationship 
     between your company and an individual named Umar Vokov, who 
     is suspected by Russian authorities of criminal activity. 
     Attached to your letter was a letter from the Russian 
     Ministry of Internal Affairs which 
     [[Page S2260]] accepted your assurances of a lack of any 
     relationship between your company and this individual and 
     expressed regret for any inaccuracies regarding this matter 
     in the statement of First Deputy Minister Yegorov.
       You have requested that these letters be made a part of the 
     printed record of the Subcommittee's proceedings. Under 
     normal circumstances, the Subcommittee would be happy to 
     accommodate such a request; however, by the time the 
     Subcommittee received your letter, the hearing record was 
     already in the process of being printed. Although the 
     Subcommittee is thus unable to include this information in 
     the printed record, I have directed that it be included in 
     the official exhibits to the hearing. As such the information 
     will become part of the permanent records of the Subcommittee 
     with respect to these proceedings. I will also request that 
     your material be reprinted in the Congressional Record.
       I thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of 
     the Subcommittee.
           Sincerely,
     Sam Nunn.
                                                                    ____

                                                       Nordex,

                                    Vienna, Austria; Dec. 2, 1994.
     Subject: hearing of the Committee on May 25, 1994, Testimony 
         of Mr. Mikhail Yegorov, First Deputy Minister and Head of 
         the Organized Crime Control Department, Russian Ministry 
         of Internal Affairs.
     Hon. Senator Sam Nunn,
      Chairman, Committee on Governmental Affairs, Permanent 
         Subcommittee on Investigations, Capitol Hill, Washington, 
         DC.
       Dear Senator Nunn, In subject Testimony the Russian Deputy 
     Minister stated:
       ``Vokov's brother Umar is the President of the Austrian 
     company Nordex, located in Vienna, and also suspected of 
     underground business.''
       This statement of Minister Yegorov went on the 
     Congressional files, and had probably also been picked up by 
     various agencies of the Government of the United States of 
     America.
       We were very concerned about this statement and its 
     implications, since neither Vokov nor his brother Umar are or 
     were shareholders, directors, or employees of our company or 
     any of their associated companies. We have, therefore, taken 
     up this matter with the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs 
     and enclosed herewith is a copy of their letter, dated 
     November 9, 1994, together with a translation thereof, which 
     I believe clarifies the position.
       Nordex G.m.b.H. is a very big Trading house based in Vienna 
     and has no connections whatsoever to organized crime or any 
     other illegal activities.
       It is, therefore, essential that the correction and 
     expression of regret contained in the a/m letter of the 
     Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, dated November 9, 1994, 
     be entered into the public record of your Committee and also 
     passed on to the various governmental organizations, so that 
     the reputation of Nordex G.m.b.H. and its associates, is 
     cleared.
       May we ask you to kindly confirm the receipt of this letter 
     and for your consent to take the requested steps. If you 
     require any further information, please feel free to contact 
     us.
       We remain, Sir,
           Sincerely yours,
                                                   G. Loutchansky,
      President.
                                                                    ____

                                      Ministry of Internal Affairs


                                    of the Russian Federation,

                                    City Moscow, November 9, 1994.
     To Dr. Gabriel Lansky,
     Lawyer,
     Vienna, Austria.
       Dear Mr. Lansky, The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the 
     Russian Federation has examined your letter of August 29, 
     1994, and subsequent letters, concerning the speech of the 
     First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, M. Egorov, on May 
     25, 1994, in the course of open hearings of the Permanent 
     Subcommittee on Investigations of the USA Senate on the 
     question of organized crime in the republics of the former 
     USSR.
       The quotation in your letter has been taken from M. 
     Egorov's written thesis, which was handed to the organisers 
     of the hearings, and not from the transcript of proceedings 
     of his speech in the Subcommittee.
       Having received your assurances that Umar Bokov is neither 
     an employee, nor a manager, nor a shareholder of either the 
     ``Nordex GmbH'' company or of any of its branches, 
     representative offices or joint ventures, one could state 
     with regret, that an inaccuracy occurred in the quotation, 
     which was caused by two circumstances.
       Firstly, in the course of the investigation of the criminal 
     case in connection with the murder of a militiamen, Umar 
     Bokov, while given evidence, stated his place of work as the 
     firm ``Nordex'', situated in Vienna, and also presented 
     himself as its president. The preliminary examination proved 
     the existence of a firm with the given name in Vienna and the 
     fact that U. Bokov used to leave for Austria on commercial 
     business trips. There was no need to prove U. Bokov's place 
     of work because he was merely a witness in that case.
       Secondly, at the stage of translation or typing of M. 
     Egorov's thesis, the important word in this context, 
     ``likely'' (also given in English in the text), which applied 
     to the phrase that U. Bokov is the president of the Austrian 
     company ``Nordex'', was omitted.
       Expressing regret concerning the inaccuracy, we declare 
     that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia had no basis 
     for, or intention of, connecting the ``Nordex GmbH'' company 
     and its actual President, G. Loutchansky, with the 
     underground business in general or, in particular, with 
     international drug trafficking.
       The quotation stated in your letter applies exclusively to 
     Umar Bokov.
           Yours faithfully,
                                                  V.P. Gortchakov.
    

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