Today the name of Sergei Magnitsky is familiar to many. A specialist in an audit firm managed to uncover a whole criminal scheme of embezzlement from the state budget. Some of the perpetrators of the crime were dismissed from their posts, some remain in their posts to this day. And the brave and honest auditor paid for his actions with his career, freedom and his own life.
Childhood and youth
Sergey was born on April 8, 1972 in Odessa. From childhood, the boy was fond of reading. During the summer holidays, while his classmates were swimming in the sea, he could be seen with a book in his hands. Serezha's favorite school subjects were exact sciences. As a teenager, he became the winner of the Physics and Mathematics Republican Olympiad. After leaving school, the young man went to conquer the capital and entered the Plekhanov University. In 1993, the graduate received a diploma in Finance and Credit.
Working for a UK company
Two years later, the novice auditor was invited to work at the consulting company Firestone Duncan, which was founded by the British Jameson Firestone and Terry Duncan. The firm was engaged in audit and tax consulting. This turn of fate influenced the entire further biography of the specialist. Magnitsky made his professional career confidently. According to his colleagues, he was an excellent lawyer, brilliantly dealt with cases in the Arbitration Court and believed in the power of justice. He was appreciated for his high professionalism and personal qualities. He approached each case carefully, was not afraid of difficulties. Good education and love for the profession helped. He did not let the interlocutor feel uncomfortable, was in a philosophical mood, tried to help and teach. His work was appreciated and soon the specialist was entrusted with the position of head of the tax and audit department. His contribution to the development of the company was that, as a great mentor, he trained an entire generation of tax consultants who tried to be like him.
Seeker of Truth
The consulting company has provided services to many clients, including the Hermitage Capital fund. In the summer of 2007, the Russian branch of the fund was accused of tax evasion, and proceedings began. The following year, a group of lawyers led by Magnitsky collected materials that, using the seized documents and seals of the foundation, he was re-registered. As a result, the new owner illegally returned more than five billion rubles in tax amounts. Magnitsky immediately testified. His testimony contained information that this criminal scheme was used not only against his client. Other Russian businessmen suffered in a similar way, they were punished on false charges. In addition, the country's budget has lost hundreds of billions of rubles. The materials featured high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, tax authorities, and employees of the judicial system. Magnitsky pointed out specific people, and the material benefits they received as a result of their criminal acts: luxurious mansions near Moscow, villas, real estate abroad.
Was it necessary for the auditor to reveal this criminal scheme and, most importantly, to report it to the appropriate authorities? Did Magnitsky understand, when he testified against serious people, what consequences this would entail? He was a real professional and an honest person, therefore, first of all, he defended the interests of his client. Even putting himself in danger, he defended his beliefs. He sincerely hoped that those guilty of billions of dollars in fraud would be punished.
Arrest
The company's experts, led by Magnitsky, have collected a lot of materials against employees of various departments. This did not go unnoticed, and a month later the head of the department was arrested. He was accused of abetting the embezzlement of Hermitage. The inhuman conditions of detention in the remand prison boiled down to one thing - to withdraw their testimony and incriminate the client. Sergei was summoned for interrogation only a few times. He considered himself a "hostage" of this situation, and stressed in court that "very few people are interested in his person, their goal is the head of the fund, William Browder." The auditor was the only one arrested in connection with this scandal. The head of the fund was charged in absentia, since he has not appeared in Russia since 2005. From that moment on, the famous Briton was ordered to enter our country. His fund was the largest private company investing in the Russian economy. In 2005, the fund uncovered a whole scheme of corruption actions of domestic officials. The head of the fund was denied a visa and expelled from the country, explaining that he poses a threat to national security.
The Magnitsky case
Sergei spent almost a year in the pre-trial detention center. During this time, about a hundred complaints were filed about the deterioration of his health and conditions of detention. He passed away on November 16, 2009. He was only 37 years old. According to the doctor of "Matrosskaya Tishina", the cause of death was acute heart failure. According to the lawyers, the defendant's health was destroyed during several months of his arrest, and the refusal of doctors to help resulted in his death. Sergey has a family left - his wife Natalya and son Nikita.
The death of Magnitsky caused an unprecedented public outcry. The facts of embezzlement from the state budget, which the famous auditor made public, were fully confirmed. It was absurd that the investigation of tax fraud was carried out by persons directly involved in their conduct.
An official investigation was also carried out into the death of the auditor. 16 heads of the Russian prison administration have left their positions. Most of the defendants in this case were subsequently acquitted, and the reasons for the medical negligence were attributed to constraint and the inability to provide assistance to the patient.
They returned to the Magnitsky Case in 2013. Four years after the death of the defendant, the case was closed with a confession of his guilt. Conviction after death became unprecedented in the history of judicial practice and the height of cynicism. The fact of human rights violations did not go unnoticed abroad. The US Congress passed the so-called "Magnitsky Act", which initially listed a group of people involved in the death of a lawyer. In subsequent years, this sanctions list increased due to the names of those who, in the opinion of the American Congress, violate the principle of supreme law in Russia. A similar document was later approved in Canada.
Every year, the Russian justice system uncovers high-profile facts of misconduct by officials across the country. I would like to believe that the "tangle of corruption", the end of which Sergei Magnitsky found 10 years ago, will be unraveled to the end.
