MOSCOW, April 19 (UPI) -- Russia may offer a tax amnesty to its billionaire oligarchs, Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin said, reports the Times of London.
Kudrin, speaking in Moscow, indicated the government of President Vladimir Putin could offer amnesty to the oligarchs who control vast swathes of the Russian economy provided they pay their taxes in full and refrain from getting active in politics.
"The first thing you must do is live up to your responsibilities," he told The Times in an interview on the eve of a visit to London. "It is one's social responsibility not to hide from taxes."
Also, "No one is prohibited from taking part in political activities but it is desirable that those political activities result in the development of the country."
One billionaire oligarch, Mikhail Khordorkovsky, is currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of fraud and tax evasion. Before he was arrested last October he was in the forefront of efforts to organize a serious political challenge to Putin.
