One of the items from John Christmas’ Parex Bank whistleblowing list from 2004 was that Parex secretly owned a bank in Russia.
Christmas claimed that Parex owned and operated Extro Bank. For example, the Parex Credit Committee approved the loans that Extro Bank extended. Latvian State Controller Inguna Sudraba was on that committee.
The fraud claim is backed up by an email written by Parex vice president Gene Zolotarev. The claim is also backed up by a Skype conversation (below) with former Parex manager Christa Rubstein. She also confirms in the conversation that Parex paid employee compensation illegally.
Even though three witnesses wrote that Parex owned Extro Bank, the auditors at Ernst & Young did not care at all and ignored the huge fraud.
Therefore, Parex was able to sell Extro Bank to Banco Santander. Santander is one of the largest banks in Europe and has millions of shareholders in Spain and the United Kingdom.
According to emails (below) from a private investigator who contacted Christmas, Banco Santander got “robbed” in the purchase. The loss could have been 40 or 50 million euros.
Law enforcement is not interested at all, as usual. Also, the media is not interested.
> —– Original Message —–
> From: John Christmas john_christmas@hotmail.com
> To: xxxx
> Sent: Mon May 05 03:18:30 2008
> Subject: Christa Rubstein
> Hi xxxx,
> I have tracked down my former Parex colleague Christa Rubstein.
> I had a chat with her on Skype yesterday and again this morning.
> Below is a transcript of the chat this morning, in which she more or less acknowledges that she knew about two of the material frauds at Parex, but she seems uncertain about whether she will contact you.
> She also gave me email addresses for two other women who used to work in our group and who left Parex in disgust years ago. I will forward your email to them also.
> Thanks,
> John
> [7:59:59] aerubstein344 says: hi John, you can reach Jacqueline at jabutler74@hotmail.com
> [8:09:55] aerubstein344 says: I have not heard back from Natasha. I couldn’t get through on the number I have. Perhaps she is out of Riga right now
> [8:10:25] aerubstein344 says: I have an email for her – moloko@one.lv
> [8:11:05] aerubstein344 says: Jacqueline has a mobile # as well +61415065975 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +61415065975 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
> [8:11:15] aerubstein344 says: have a good day
> [8:11:34] aerubstein344 says: have you talked to Valery?
> [9:00:39] aerubstein344 says: my email is christa@one.lv
> [9:59:30] yyyy-john says: Thanks for all info. I certainly have not talked to Valery. I am mad at Valery and Gene because both of them knew that Parex was criminal before they hired me and thus they are responsible for getting me in this situation.
> [10:00:30] yyyy-john says: Regarding Jacqueline and Natasha, I will just quickly send xxxxs email address to them in case they want to help and then I will not expect them to tell me whether or not they do anything.
> [10:02:06] yyyy-john says: Here it is again for you: xxxx
> [10:02:10] aerubstein344 says: thanks
> [10:02:57] aerubstein344 says: I hope you have a great day
> [10:03:03] yyyy-john says: I am absolutely certain that you must remember at lease two frauds: Parex Bank owned a secret subsidiary in Russia named Extro Bank. We used to laugh about the name because it sounded like Extra Bank.
> [10:03:03] aerubstein344 says: it is beautiful here
> [10:03:19] aerubstein344 says: WOW, I had completely forgotten about that
> [10:03:28] aerubstein344 says: but there is no way I could prove anything
> [10:03:30] yyyy-john says: Also, you must remember that our division gave out bonuses in cash in envelopes each year.
> [10:03:56] yyyy-john says: Parex says that I lied when I told this to the prosecutor and therefore they want me to be prosecuted myself.
> [10:04:10] aerubstein344 says: that you lied about the bonuesses?
> [10:04:15] aerubstein344 says: they denied it?
> [10:04:30] aerubstein344 says: that surprises me, because it is such standard procedure
> [10:04:33] aerubstein344 says: there
> [10:05:00] yyyy-john says: I wrote a list of about 20 frauds and I think they are arguing that I lied about everything because I am crazy.
> [10:05:30] aerubstein344 says: but how would they cover up all of this with ABN AMRO when the due dilligence was going on
> [10:05:33] aerubstein344 says: that is what I don’t get
> [10:05:40] aerubstein344 says: why search for an investor
> [10:06:04] yyyy-john says: Remember that ABN AMRO refused to do business with Parex ever again.
> [10:06:13] aerubstein344 says: oh, I didn’t realize that part
> [10:06:32] aerubstein344 says: see you had more to do with those relationships
> [10:06:45] aerubstein344 says: so I didn’t remember who had blacklisted the bank
> [10:06:56] yyyy-john says: Of course I hope you have a nice day with family. And please please please write to xxxx and you never need to tell me.
> [10:07:42] aerubstein344 says: I’ll think about it
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