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So, in mid-December 2002 Putin gave to Ustinov a personal assignment, No. Pr-2178, to scrutinise the sale from top to bottom. In April 2003, with Khodorkovskiy's dispute with Putin and his associates in full swing, Ustinov sent to the president letter No. 7/3-1833-2002, on the results of his inquiries. What he wrote here directly contradicts what he would say about this case a few months later.
"In view of the fact that it is not within the competence of the Procuracy General of the Russian Federation to determine a market value for the package of OAO Apatit shares ... a letter was sent to the chairman of the Russian Federation Government, Mr M.M. Kasyanov, suggesting that the interested ministries and agencies carry out an economic analysis of the settlement ... Letters with similar requests were also sent by the Procuracy General of the Russian Federation to the Ministries of Finance, Natural Resources, Industry and Science, and Economic Development ... On the instruction of the chairman of the Russian Federation Government, the Russian Federation Property Fund, in conjunction with the Ministries of Finance, Natural Resources, Industry and Science, and Taxes and Revenues, prepared a letter in which it insisted that the economic interest of the state had been upheld when the amicable settlement was concluded and that the sum in damages endorsed by the Court of Arbitration in Moscow was justified. In consideration of this, and in effect supporting the Property Fund's position, the Ministry of Finance in a letter to the Procuracy General indicated with good reason that disputes over the market or other value of an asset should in accordance with the Federal Law "On valuations in the Russian Federation" be referred for consideration by a court of law."
So, the guys in charge of state property, the taxman, and the finance and industry experts all confirmed that Khodorkovskiy was in the right - until, that is, the Tsar's wrath descended upon them. Let us suppose that the top men in all these important state institutions were in Khodorkovskiy's pocket. Perhaps he, in the Asiatic way, had stuffed dollars into the mouths of every functionary from department head upwards. But where were these same institutions in autumn of that year, the ones that "prepared a letter" and "indicated with good reason", together with their courts and the Law on Valuation?
If the purchase of Apatit had indeed been criminal, then it follows from Ustinov's report that half of Russian officialdom was in on it! The document, with the personal signature of Ustinov, Menatep's future accuser, is in the public domain: "The outcome of efforts to resolve the situation regarding the return by ZAO Volna of the OAO Apatit shares was conveyed by the Russian Federation Property Fund to the chairman of the Russian Federation Government, Mr M.M. Kasyanov, who consented to the decision taken."
This is the same Ustinov whose "competence" would later extend to matters financial, who would sign off documents with arithmetical howlers that a part-time economist with a hangover could spot. And after, as we have seen, he had written to the president direct: me, I don't know, but those who do tell me it's all okay ... That is, Kasyanov and half a dozen ministers, in all their pomp, confirmed that Khodorkovskiy was right. Are they also criminals, or were they set up by corrupt officials? Why was there no investigation back then? And who dared deceive Putin?
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