Steve Mnuchin Briefed Congress on Why He Dropped Sanctions on Russian Companies. It Didn't Go Well.
Steve Mnuchin Briefed Congress on Why He Dropped Sanctions on Russian Companies.
It Didn’t Go Well. “This is one of the worst classified briefings we’ve received from the Trump administration.”
RUSS CHOMA at Mother Jones
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/01/steve-mnuchin-briefed-congress-on-why-he-dropped-sanctions-on-oleg-deripaska-it-didnt-go-well/
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Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin gave lawmakers a classified briefing late Thursday to explain why the Trump administration has decided to drop sanctions against companies owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. But far from placating Democratic lawmakers, he seems to have angered them.
Deripaska, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is one of Russia’s wealthiest men. The energy and aluminum magnate has in the past been banned from entering the United States over alleged ties to Russian organized crime (which he denies). He is also a former lobbying client of Paul Manafort, who allegedly owes the oligarch millions, a debt the former Trump campaign chairman apparently tried to repay by offering up insider briefings on the 2016 presidential election. Last spring, the Treasury Department added three companies Deripaska owns—En+ Group LLC, a large mining and energy conglomerate; UC Rusal PLC, one of the largest aluminum mining companies in the world; and JSC EuroSibEnergo, Russia’s largest private power company—to a list of sanctioned companies that Americans are prohibited from doing business with. The move was part of a broader effort targeting oligarchs close to Putin in response to what the Treasury Department described as the Russian government’s involvement with “malign activity” around the world and the reality that oligarchs “profit from this corrupt system.”
But in December, the Treasury Department reversed course and said Deripaska’s companies would soon be eligible to be removed from the sanctions list. The decision was based on an agreement by Deripaska to reduce his controlling interest in the firms to a minority stake in the ownership. But Deripaska will continue to own significant chunks of the companies—as much as 44.95 percent in the case of En+. Under the agreement, he is transferring his shares to VTB Bank, a Russian state-owned institution that is also under sanctions by the US government, but is not barred from doing business with Americans or American financial institutions. Deripaska is not allowed to be paid for the shares that he is unloading, and any dividends earned through his remaining stake must be kept in escrow, according to the deal announced by Treasury.
The timing of the announcement—December 19—irked some in Congress, which legally has 30 days to block the delisting of a sanctioned company. To do so, Congress must pass a resolution in both houses with a veto-proof majority. With the deadline set to pass on January 19, that leaves little time for the new Congress to act. Earlier this week, the Democratic chairman of five House committees sent a letter to Mnuchin asking him to explain the delisting decision. The result of that request—Mnuchin’s classified briefing on Thursday—was apparently underwhelming.
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