18 February 2003 22:10
Microsoft official in Moscow details donations to pro-rebel Chechen foundation
[Presenter]... Microsoft's Russian representative Olga Dergunova said tonight that the foundation [Islamic
foundation Benevolence] had been lying to its sponsors' since the 1990s, including Microsoft. According to
Dergunova, in the five years of collaborating with the foundation, the Microsoft corporation has allocated a mere 20,000
dollars to the fund.
[Dergunova] We'd like to stress that Yastrzhembskiy has very correctly said in his interview that Microsoft was
not aware that the money had been misused. None of the other organizations which donated money to the fund were aware of
how the money was spent. In this situation, all those who donated money for charity found themselves cheated. This is
what happened to Microsoft, too.
[Presenter] Dergunova also said that the foundation was on the list which had been approved by the US Administration.
But at the end of last December it transpired that the foundation financed illegal armed formations in Chechnya. The
foundation was chaired by a certain (Arnaut?) who was close to Al-Qa'idah, and the money was cashed in Riga, Baku
and Tbilisi. As soon as this became known, Microsoft stopped sending money to the foundation's account, Dergunova
said.
[Ekho Moskvy radio] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
