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To: Giraffe who wrote (27804)	2/6/1999 12:09:00 AM
From: Ironyman	Respond to of 116764

I do quite a bit of trading and have noticed that the MMs are almost completely unwilling to buy and hold anything! They are currently going to great lengths to maintain a high ask and drop the bid below me upon my sell order.

To: Giraffe who wrote (27804)	2/6/1999 11:21:00 AM
From: Alex	Respond to of 116764

Russian Bankers in £30bn Aid 'Scam' Getting rich off the IMF OFFICIALS at Russia's Central Bank drained billions of dollars from Russia's hard currency reserves and International Monetary Fund loans into a Jersey company, it was claimed yesterday. The general prosecutor, Yury Skuratov, who resigned on Tuesday, made the allegations in a letter to the Duma, the Russian parliament. He claimed that over the past five years the bank sent almost £30.5 billion overseas to be managed by a shell company registered in Jersey. Mr Skuratov said the funds had been transferred since 1993 to the Financial Management Company, or Fimaco, which has a mere £600 as charter capital. Duma officials and bank analysts deny any knowledge of Fimaco. However the claims, if confirmed, would be the most concrete evidence yet of the corruption that pervades Russia's ruling circles. Central banks normally manage these funds themselves, or at least use well-known international banks. Tom Balastrery, the Moscow-based director of the First Mercantile Capital Group, said yesterday: "It is a scam, probably organised by the bankers themselves." Fund management companies typically charge a two per cent fee for their services that, in this case, would have netted the owners of the company £600 million. "It allows you to help yourself to the funds in a way that looks completely legal," said Mr Balastrery. The Moscow Times quoted an official from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as saying: "This is a kind of practice I haven't heard of. We manage our funds ourselves." Mr Skuratov's resignation was on health grounds but it was widely believed that he was pushed out of office by political enemies. He stood down amid a series of raids on companies owned by rivals of the Prime Minister, Yevgeny Primakov. His letter to the Duma was an answer to a request made two weeks ago to recommend an auditor to the central bank, but it went far beyond the brief, listing a string of abuses, including illegal sales of assets and property. Observers said yesterday he took the opportunity to lash out prior to his fall from power. Bank officials may face questioning over the Fimaco affair when the Duma sub-committee that oversees it meets next week. Its head, Georgy Luntovsky, said criminal charges might be brought. Viktor Gereshenko, chairman of the central bank, could be implicated as his first term ran from 1992 to 1994. The London Telegraph, Feb. 6, 1999