vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #161 / Business / Reading article...

Larisa Pinchuk believed all the hype. She even contributed to it.

The director of Mestnoye Vremya, a television news program, wanted an apartment for her daughter. And when Primorsky Krai officials, major banks and even Gov. Yevgeny Nazdratenko promised that the Charitable Food Fund would pay astounding dividends, she invested 45 million rubles ($7,500) — her life savings.

“I personally made an advertising movie about it, and I myself was hooked by it, even though I am an educated person,” she said.

Perhaps as many as 100,000 investors put their savings into the now-collapsed pyramid scheme, lured by assurances that they would receive discounts on food for a year, and 20 percent interest thereafter. Now they are hoping for justice from the krai prosecutor, who may file criminal charges this week, and the Krai Duma, which is considering launching its own investigation Feb. 24.

The Charitable Food Fund was founded in 1995 amid extravagant promises and high hopes. It had the backing of a range of high-powered officials. Fifteen organizations — including Dalrybbank and the Primorye International Women’s Club, headed by Galina Nazdratenko — created the fund, and the krai administration was a co-founder. Then-Mayor Konstantin Tolstoshein, now a vice governor, also backed the fund.

But the fund kept reducing its promised dividends, and then collapsed in September. Mayor Victor Cherepkov, arch-rival of the krai administration, has formed an office to investigate complaints from those who lost money in the fund, and the halls are crowded with angry investors.

Many of the victims were pensioners. Vera Berezovskaya, 65, lost 3.3 million old rubles ($550), and her family also suffered.

“My daughter has many kids, and she invested in this fund to get clothes for her kids,” Berzovskaya said. “She invested 5.8 million rubles. ... We all believed the governor, because he spoke in favor of it.”

But Vice Gov. Valentin Kuzov, who last summer was telling investors that Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov would take over the fund, said the board can’t be held liable. The charter states that board members would not be responsible for the debts of the fund should it collapse, said Vice Gov. Valentin Kuzov.

Nevertheless, the krai wants to see justice, he suggested. “The krai, in the name of the governor, appealed to the prosecutor to investigate the insolvency,” Kuzov said. “I don’t know how, but I’m sure everyone will get their money back.”