PROSECUTOR GENERAL SAYS ONE OF THE BANKERS MAY BE IN TROUBLE.

If Smolensky, Potanin and Khodorkovsky are feeling reassured, Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Skuratov suggested on October 13 that at least one of Russia’s oligarchs could wind up in a category by himself: “In a country where not everything is well with its finances and there are thousands of victims of the banking system, it shouldn’t be surprising if one of the bankers gets arrested,” Skuratov told reporters. He declined to name names.

Turning to another case, Skuratov said that Andrei Kozlenok, head of the “Golden Ada” company, was not the main figure in the alleged illegal export and sale of more than US$180 million in gold and gems from 1993-1994. Kozlenok, who was extradited to Russia from Greece last May, said top Russian government officials had threatened his life. Skuratov said investigators have concluded that Kozlenok was only “an instrument in the hands of those who carried out the [biggest] fraud of the 20th century.” Russia’s top prosecutor, again, did not name names, but said they have frequently been mentioned in the press.

Boris Fedorov–recently released as the head of Russia’s tax services and a deputy prime minister during the 1993-94 period–has been questioned regarding the Golden Ada case, as has Yevgeny Bychkov, ex-head of the State Committee on Metals and Gems.

UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION AGAINST CABINET.