[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 64 (Thursday, April 30, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E634-E635]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE GLOBAL MAGNITSKY HUMAN RIGHTS ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 30, 2015

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I recently chaired a hearing on 
the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 directed 
the President to publish and update a list of each person the President 
had reason to conclude was responsible for the detention, abuse, or 
death of Sergei Magnitsky, a legal and accounting adviser with 
Firestone Duncan, an international law and accounting firm with offices 
in Moscow and London.
   William Browder, Chief Executive Officer of Hermitage Capital 
Management Ltd., who was one of the witnesses at the hearing, has 
provided a detailed account of the violent expropriation of the assets 
of Hermitage--the largest foreign investment brokerage in Russia--by 
rampant Russian Government corruption, bribery, fraud, forgery, 
cronyism, and outright theft.
   Magnitsky had documented Hermitage's losses and other illicit 
financial dealings, including draining $230 million from the Russian 
treasury by tax fraud. He was arrested in November 2008, reportedly for 
tax evasion, and denied medical care, family visits, or due legal 
process, in custody. He was beaten and tortured, and died in prison in 
November 2009. He was 37 years old and married with two young children.
   The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 targeted 
those who participated in related liability concealment efforts, 
financially benefited from Sergei Magnitsky's detention, abuse, or 
death, or were involved in the criminal conspiracy uncovered by 
Magnitsky, or were responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or 
other human rights violations committed against individuals seeking to 
expose illegal activity carried out by Russian officials, or against 
persons seeking to promote human rights and freedoms. The Act directed 
the Secretaries of State and Treasury to annually report to Congress on 
actions taken to implement the Act, including rejecting visa 
applications, revoking existing visas, and blocking property 
transactions, for persons the President put on the Magnitsky List.
   The United States is a land of opportunity, but it should not be for 
those who misused and murdered Sergei Magnitsky. Without the original 
Magnitsky Act, the government officials and businesspeople who 
perpetrated crimes against a young man, against a major international 
firm, and against even the Russian people themselves by stealing from 
them, could have taken their ill-gotten gains and come to this country 
to purchase property and live the good life that the United States 
offers.
   The hearing examined the need for H.R. 624, ``The Global Magnitsky 
Human Rights Accountability Act,'' which extends these human rights and 
anti-corruption tools to other countries. The House passed the 2012 act 
by a vote of 365-43, and there is now strong Majority and Minority co-
sponsorship for H.R. 624.
   Since the original Magnitsky Act became law on December 14, 2012, 
human rights victims and advocates from around the world, and anti-
corruption champions, have asked for a Magnitsky Act for their specific 
country. H.R. 624 ensures--with minimal cost or burden on the United 
States--that our government gives some justice to victims and stands in 
solidarity with them in a tangible way, shines a spotlight on 
perpetrators, making them pariahs, and pressures governments to 
prosecute perpetrators who are their citizens.
   The Global Magnitsky Act is intended to disrupt the impunity and 
comfort that far too many international human rights violators 
currently enjoy and to keep their tainted money out of our financial 
systems. It also fights the human rights abuses and corruption that 
generate national security, terrorism, and economic threats to the 
United States.
   A few years ago, Teodorin Obiang Mangue son of the President of 
Equatorial Guinea, visited the United States regularly. Using funds 
siphoned from American companies operating in his country, he lived a 
glamorous life in Malibu, California, dating celebrities and collecting 
expensive cars. When France issued a warrant for his arrest after he 
refused to appear at a money-laundering hearing, his father provided 
him with diplomatic immunity to escape prosecution.
   In June 2012, after years of trying to track Teodorin's wealth, the 
U.S. Department of Justice finally filed a lawsuit in a California 
court alleging massive money-laundering and listing, among the 
scandalous catalog of assets, his $35 million Malibu mansion, with a 
four-hole golf course, tennis court and two swimming pools. That's just 
one of the acquisitions he made in the U.S.
   The financial manipulations of young Mr. Obiang's family led in part 
to the closing of Riggs Bank in Washington, one of the capital's 
premier financial institutions. Such people should not be able to steal 
from foreign firms and their own people and use these funds to live 
lavishly in our country.
   Similarly, those who torture and otherwise commit the worst human 
rights violations against others should not be welcome here either and 
I have written legislation over the years to enforce that principle. 
The Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy, and Human Rights Advancement Act of 
2006 would have prevented officials who ordered the callous shooting of 
peaceful demonstrators in Ethiopia from entering this country. The 
Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001 
became law and required the U.S. Government to impose visa bans on any 
foreign national the Secretary of State has determined is directly 
involved in establishing or enforcing population control policies that 
force a woman to undergo abortions against her will or force a man or 
woman to undergo sterilization against his or her will. The Belarus 
Democracy Reauthorization Act of 2006 also became law and imposed visa 
bans and asset freezes on government officials from the Government of 
Belarus because of their violations of basic human rights and freedoms.
   If we stand by quietly when governments refuse to prosecute human 
rights abusers and financial fraudsters, and then welcome those guilty 
of such crimes into the United States and into our financial systems, 
we are enabling their crimes. The 2012 Magnitsky Act was a major step 
in freeing ourselves from aiding and abetting international 
perpetrators. H.R. 624 makes the next step in taking a

[[Page E635]]

stand against their crimes. If we are serious about rejecting their 
deeds, perhaps their governments, and other governments, will become 
more serious as well.

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