Seabeco - Agreement Between Boris Birshtein & Sergei Mikhailov - Russian Mafia -Intelligence Newsletter -27Mar97
Stefan Lemieszewski
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Intelligence Newsletter
27Mar997
Mikhailov between Mafia and KGB
A six day trip to Brussels and Antwerp by Swiss examining
magistrate Georges
Zecchin to inquire into the dealings of Russian Mafia godfather Sergei
Mikhailov
(IN 307) reaped an interesting harvest. It uncovered details about
a $ 150
million financial link between Mikhailov and Boris Birshtein, known
to
intelligence agencies for having been a key figure in transferring
ex-KGB funds
to the West.
Arrested at Geneva airport on Oct. 15 after arriving
from Vienna, Mikhailov,
alias Mikhas, is a former wrestling champion. He is probably the head
of the
Solntzevskaya Mafia gang named after the district in Moscow called
Solntzewo.
Aged under 40 with little formal education Mikhailov carries five different
passports (Russian, Israeli, Costa Rican, Belgian and Portuguese) and
he has
refused point blank to explain the origins of his huge fortune. He
seemed to be
most worried about inability to fit his Rolls Royce with Belgian plates
into the
garage at his home.
A search of the home at Borex where his wife and
two little girls live led
to the discovery of bank statements with particularly high balances.
It was
established that the Belgian and Portuguese passports were fake, as
were his
driving licences. But above all, detectives from the Geneva Surete's
CORUS
(Russian Organized Crime) group found an agreement signed by Mikhailov
that bound
him to pay $ 150 million to Birshtein. The Swiss police have received
reports
from foreign colleagues (Austrian, German and specially the FBI) that
enable
them to confirm Mikhas really is a leader of the Solntzevskaya Mafia,
one of
Russia's most dangerous gangs that specializes in extortion, drug traffic,
murder and in bribing politicians.
Since October Mikhas and his lawyers have indulged
in a number of bluffs and
even managed to produce a document from a Russian prosecutor claiming
that
"Mikhailov has no record with Russian police." But during his inquiry
in Belgium,
Zecchin, who was accompanied by a policeman and an accountant, managed
to
determine that Mikhas had indeed sent tens of millions of dollars to
Birshtein
via the Krediet Bank.
However, the investigators failed to determine whether
Birshtein, who founded
the Seabeco company in Zurich in 1982 (probably on behalf of the KGB)
was the
Solntzevskaya Mafia's official money-launderer or indeed himself controlled
the
gang. Birshtein fled Zurich in early 1994 for Antwerp after being caught
up in a
number of legal cases. He has since disappeared from his apartment.
A number of
neighbors and his son-in-law are also on the run.
This new episode in the Mikhailov affair is being
watched particularly
closely by organized crime experts. "We know that the former KGB went
to any
lengths to further its affairs. We can now prove that those involved
in
organized Russian crime were given a lot of advice by the best KGB
agents who
had converted to business," declared a Belgian gendarme who conducted
an inquiry
three years ago into Seabeco's Belgian affiliate, Seabeco Belgique,
in Antwerp.
For his part, Michael Lauber, head of the Swiss Federal Police Office's
organized crime division, said the Mikhailov case presented "an excellent
test
for your justice system. Either we succeed in jailing him (he is liable
to seven
years in prison for laundering and belonging to a criminal organization)
and
prove that we are holding the line. Or we fail and have to wash our
hands of
Russian crime."
In coming weeks Mikhailov and his lawyers will get
access to elements in the
case being built against him. Between now and then he'll have to choose
who is
to succeed him as head of the Solntzevskaya Mafia. Sources who follow
Russian
crime have cited the names of Averine and Tamm, both of whom are widely
known to
police forces across Europe. As for Birshtein he is said to have "retired
from
business" because of his age. He is said to be living in Vilnius, his
home town,
and is certainly unlikely to risk voluntarily travelling to Switzerland
to meet
Zecchin, even though the latter says he has nothing specific against
him. The
magistrate examining the Seabeco case, Dieter Jann-Corrodi, also says
that "Mr.
Birshtein is a first-rate witness and he isn't under an indictment."