The Billion Dollar Don. Panorama. 6.12.99. Your comments

Monday 6 December
The Billion Dollar Don.

This page lists your most recent comments.

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If there is one argument that can be put forward to oppose the entry of former Eastern states into the EU then this programme highlighted it. If they were able to swindle the Czech authorities out of enough money to build 50 new hospitals, imagine how much they could swindle out of EU coffers.
Henry Willis
Bedford

Interesting programme highlighting some worrying issues. While many governments recognise and exclude such criminals from their country, others welcome their suitcase full of cash. In Spain and Portugal most estate agents advertise in Russian in order to get large sums of cash for property, not realising that once a critical mass of Russian criminals have settled in an area they will start their criminal activities in the host country. The money laundering activity also pushes house prices up out of the reach of the local population. Amy London
Amy
London

I watched your program with interest & was pleased with your discoveries (however, for a long time I was waiting to hear more about the mechanics of the system which had allowed such phenomenon to emerge & to make such sums of money in such a short time). I can only suggest (as a person who not only lived & worked in that country for a long time, but knows the mentality of that nation) that if you have the budget, you should perhaps analyse the culture and expose the very system & structure which allows the birth of corruption in Russia. In Russia the political parties get their funding from their backers (as everywhere else) The Yeltsin faction get their money from the new business, the communists get theirs from the old industries, but people like Zhirinovski, who don't have that kind of backing, get their financial support from the organised crime. That's why he & his team are followed & investigated by such organisations as Interpol. You can easily find in his group of followers and backers, people ranging from criminals & Mafia members to corrupt bankers and oil companies. In Russia, the problem is not the Mafia, no. The problem is the system and the politicians who are sitting on top of this country and allowing this system to operate. The Mafia is just a consequence. For example, the Billions of US Dollars that have been loaned to CIS in the last decade, were always given to the central government, through international organisations, banks & so on, by agreement.

In Russia, the problem is not the Mafia ... it's the system and the politicians who are sitting on top of this country and allowing this system to operate.

Farrokh Hormoz London

But don't you wonder how a large number of russians managed to accumulate large sums of hard currencies (which nearly consists the large proportion of those loans) in Western Banks and properties outside Russia? In a society where everything is still controlled by the central government, such movements of money can not happen without the sanction from the top. I know, because that's how they operated in the last decade. Any Russian specialist can confirm this point. I hope that you can move away from such showcase journalism, & concentrate on investigating the causes & roots.
Farrokh Hormoz
London

So, Russia has a mobster and there are investigations into the personal finances of the president's family. Though there are no known connections between these two "facts," we are asked to accept that Russia is "emerging as a criminal state." Sorry? Wouldn't that make nations such as the US, Germany, S. Korea, Italy, Japan and (remember Mark Thatcher?) even Britain - to name a few from recent years - criminal states too?
Fred Harrison
London

Tom Mangold did an excellent job of bringing this to UK viewers. I lived in Kiev, Ukraine for 3 years and returned 6 months ago. My main concern is that this FSU born corruption is in western Europe, including the UK already, and well developed. The fact is that where bribery is concerned, the people of supposedly civilised nations such as ours can be sucked in easily. In Kiev, you cannot do business without paying bribes. The general view of western businessmen in Kiev is, if you cant beat them, join them. Believe me, we join them. All western businessmen are linked somehow with Mafia factions - or else they simply don't do business. I am sure that as many western individuals are as responsible for siphoning off aid money illegally, as Russians or Ukrainians. Where on earth does this leave us ?
Fred Gooch

Although I found the programme very informative, the one thing I couldn't understand was the fact that Tom Mangold bothered to interview Mogelevich at all. Surely he didn't expect him to reveal all and tell him about all his rackets and money laundering. It must be quite something interviewing someone who not only looks like a gangster but who is quite clearly lying through their teeth.
Fergus Crossen Dublin

It is very sad and deeply unfortunate that people in the UK perceive most of the Russians as mobsters, criminals and money launders because of programs like these. It is very sad that public opinion in the West now almost fears and hates all the Russians although there are and there always have been criminals amongst any society and any nationality (for example a company which reconstructed The Kremlin and which was mentioned in the report - "Mabetex" - was a Swiss firm). It is very important to understand that crime has NO nationality. BBC should raise awareness and get people to deal with certain crimes rather than promote racism and nationalism. I still believe there are plenty of decent, intelligent and hard working Russians who do not deserve the unfair prejudice such programs create.
Alex
London

Despite being Russian, I thought the programme was quite good. Although there were several things in it that made me cringe. The closing remark: "Russians are coming but this time there is no wall no hold them back" was too reminiscent of those made by Hitler and Stalin, and to be quite honest the whole programme was rather wasted because the ending was so weak. As a Russian and a BBC World Service Moscow reporter of four years, I had a real problem with the substance, although given the subject, I know that it is practically impossible to obtain any hard facts. But why did you decide to portray Mogelevich as "The Russian gangster"? For instance, Umar Dzhabrailov, whose hotel you show several times throughout the film, is a much more notorious figure, incriminated in the horrific murder of US businessman Paul Tatum in broad daylight in the very centre of Moscow. I also had a problem with Mogelevich's responses that you broadcast. He was obviously taking a mickey out of your presenter and in my view and that of my numerous Russian friends really got away with it. On the whole though the programme was an interesting watch, so thanks for that.
Marina Boughton
London

This horrific report casts doubt on the hope that the free market system can ever satisfy the needs of ordinary working people. Your program has shown why such a large number of Russians still vote for the communists in elections. Can it be that only a soviet style `guided' democracy with it's control over personal wealth has any chance of controlling the Mafia. Even with the corruption associated with the communist era, the extremes of wealth were much less marked and there was no visible poverty at least in the cities. People had money and their main complaint was the limited range of goods to buy. There are many in our society that would prefer such a worry.
John Leonard
Llandeilo

I would like thank this programme for such an interesting point of the revolution in the U.S.S.Rand the possible threat to our own shores I just hope the government takes notice now before the Russian mob take over like the Yardies.
Tom
Leicester

So, are the Russians coming? If the answer is yes, which should we fear more - their future arrival on our shores or the present state of deep-rooted criminality within the heart of what was only recently a technological, military and economic superpower?
Steven Goldie
Manchester

A very interesting programme which brings to light all the problems which we associate with the Russian Mafia. Organised crime is on the increase and I cannot understand why this man has not been locked up in his own country. Surely he is now living on borrowed time along with a corrupted president who can only line his daughters pockets before his time in office runs out.
V.Parker King's Lynn

Bristol

FSU born corruption is in western Europe ..... already...All western businessmen are linked somehow with Mafia factions

Fred Gooch. Bristol

Russian organised crime does not hold the privilege on violence, in fact local OCG for instance in my country are as violent and use the same methods you have shown in your program. You should inform the public on that and not just focus on Russian OCG. Or is it your purpose to make people fear the bad and criminal wild east?
Bouman
Amsterdam

Not a bad programme, but no real evidence was offered about this alleged Russian gangster, just a lot of innuendo and rumour. I have come to expect much more from Panorama investigations. Its all very well letting people know that soon Hungary will join the EU and these gangsters will be flooding into the EU. Do you really think in your wildest dreams that anything will be done about this? Britain with its laid back attitude to crime and the lenience given to persistent offenders make Britain and excellent place to open up shop in. We were warned years ago by hardworking police officers about the looming drugs problem. Nothing was done, and now we have the social problems generated by drug use on a huge scale. This government like the last one has a vested interest in crime, if they didn't they would do something about it. Panorama for years has done some great programmes, but rarely if ever has a Government done anything to handle problems high lighted in advance. The content of tonight's programme was indeed interesting. We saw dead bodies, blood on the floor and a short sex scene. I have no problem with such things. My problem is how the BBC show this in a documentary, but EDIT and censure almost every damn film you ever show. I object to the constant censoring of TV and others deciding what I should or should not see.
Doug
London

I am working in Poland. We saw pieces of Czech, Hungary and Ukraine. What of Poland?
Stefan Afendoulis
Tauranga, New Zealand

As long as there is no framework of law in Russia, the Russian people will not trust their own government, let alone business. You get the feeling that the Soviet system for so long spoke of capitalism as some sort of crime that everyone there thinks of business as a crime.
John Clarke
Swaffham, Norfolk

Most of this guys money probably comes straight out of mine and your pocket. Most of the aid Western countries and the IMF send to places like Russia simply disappears into private, forgone bank accounts of parasites, either political or criminal. All this money should stop going through the governments of these corrupt, lawless countries. The money should be controlled and audited by officials from the donor countries and organisations. You are certainly not going to make a billion dollars legitimately in 10 years from the impoverished Russian population. Lets finally do something positive and cut the cord on these cancerous tumours who are just sucking the life out of millions of people.
Graeme Foster
London, UK

Good to see Panorama still producing quality TV. The program was not only fascinating, but one must admire the bravery of the reporters. Do they have any suggestions as to how we can stop him?
John Davis
Brighton

Typically shoddy BBC reporting. Factually, it's not been 10 years, as asserted at the opening, since the fall of communism in the Soviet Union. Editorially, why was the Mabetex scandal included? It had nothing to do whatsoever with Mogelevich, and has been EXTENSIVELY covered elsewhere by the media. Yes, it's true, it has some juicy footage of some prostitutes at work (previously shown several times in other BBC programmes) but is that reason enough to include it?
Peter Fuhrman
London