Russia faces illegal cash flight of $49b

Russia’s central bank said Wednesday that $49 billion had left the country illegally last year in a staggering capital flight equal to 2.5 percent of the country’s economic product.The total outflows of capital from Russia – transactions that include tax payments and the transfer of profits made through investments – slipped to $56.8 billion last year after reaching $80.5 billion in 2011.The bank’s outgoing chairman Sergei Ignatyev told the Vedomosti daily that of the $49 billion illegal flight, some $14 billion was in illicit trade operations and the rest was through “dubious” cash schemes. “…

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