BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

19/03/2008

Lawyer Zeltser Detained In Minsk

Heidi Brow

Emanuel Zeltser, a Russian-born U.S. citizen who sued the Bank of New York during the height of its Russian money-laundering scandal in the 1990s, was detained last week in Minsk, his brother told Forbes.

The reasons for his arrest just after exiting a plane in the authoritarian country are unknown, and news of the March 12 occurence in the capital of Belarus is just now reaching other countries.

The U.S. State Department, citing a law that requires missing persons to sign a waiver before information about them can be released, refused to comment or confirm that Zeltser had been detained.

Zeltser, outspoken and controversial, is a specialist on money laundering and organized crime. In 1999 he testified before the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services regarding the estimated $10 billion money-laundering scheme at the Bank of New York, which is now known as Bank of New York Mellon (nyse: BK - news - people ). He also sued the bank for $2 billion on behalf of depositors who had lost money in an affiliate.

There is speculation that the detention was on the orders of either the Belarus or Russian intelligence services, possibly in connection with the Bank of New York suit. "The KGB is in more than one country," remarked Zeltser's brother Mark.

In the late 1990s, Emanuel Zeltser, who is a lawyer, also represented a former Kremlin official, Pavel Borodin, when Borodin was charged by a Swiss court with money laundering.

But Mark Zeltser said the State Department told him that a meeting scheduled for Tuesday between his brother and U.S. consular officials in Minsk had been postponed. He said that his brother suffers from chronic illnesses and that he had asked the Belarus Embassy in Washington to make medications available to him. He also requested a short-term visa to the country but so far has not received a reply.

Emanual Zeltser had flown from London to Minsk, possibly to visit a Russian client with business in Minsk. "I know it wasn't for sightseeing," Mark Zeltser said. The detained American was traveling with his secretary, Vladlena Funk, who was also arrested.

Source:

http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/18/zeltser-belarus-arrest-face-markets-cz_hb_0318autofacescan06.html

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