U.S. ‘immune system’ working, financier says
Anti-Putin crusader visiting Ottawa to celebrate passage of Canada’s Magnitsky bill
Forgive American-born financier Bill Browder for looking over his shoulder as he steps happily into the spotlight in Ottawa Wednesday.
Paranoia — healthy paranoia, he’ll have you know — is standard operating procedure for the anti-corruption crusader as he arrives in the capital to celebrate this month’s passage of a Canadian version of the U.S. Magnitsky Act, targeting Russian human-rights abusers.
Barely a week ago, Browder was grounded in the U.K., unable to travel to the U.S. or Canada after an infuriated Kremlin yet again listed him as an Interpol fugitive, subject to immediate arrest. It was his fifth goround with what he calls Russia’s “pernicious abuse” of the international criminal database — all designed to “arrest me, jail me and ultimately carry out a plan of slow-motion assassination.”
As before, Browder quickly won back clearance to travel. But he’s always nervous crossing borders, especially now as the extent of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s anger becomes known.
Browder was thrilled with his easy entry through Canadian customs at Pearson Airport Sunday night. Minutes later, he was alarmed to discover a Russian-speaking driver behind the wheel of the car service he prebooked to take him downtown. He “dismissed” the driver and found another way into the city. And don’t even ask where he’s staying. Sitting down over lunch in Toronto, Browder insisted on neutral ground as a precaution. He doesn’t regard himself as untouchable, even in Canada.
“The Russian government is out to get me and wants me dead,” he says, matter-of-fact. Dead like Browder’s former Russian tax lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who was imprisoned and beaten to death after flagging a constellation of corruption in Russia seven years ago. Browder remains haunted by the whistle blower’s death and has rededicated what remains of his life to the cause of justice for Magnitsky.
Browder, 53, has long been aware of the Kremlin fury over his crusade. But even he was shocked when repeal of the Magnitsky Act was raised as the pre-eminent goal in stories emerging from Russian encounters with the Trump campaign during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
“My battle with Russia seems to be intensifying. I knew they hated the Maginsky sanctions, I didn’t realize it was at the centre of everything involving the Russians and Trump. Scary.”
Browder’s words were interlaced with a frenzy of phone-scrolling on Monday as details of the first indictments against Trump campaign officials emerged from the office of special counsel Robert Mueller. The Chicago-born campaigner seemed visibly relieved that the wheels of American justice, however wobbly, were gaining traction.
“Yes, the United States has an infection,” Browder said, summing up his sense of the developments. “Yes, there is high fever — but the fever will break . . . This morning’s indictments show U.S. law enforcement has the tools to figure out what happened and the ability to fix it.
“I’m confident the immune system of the United States of America is working perfectly right now . . . The judiciary works, Congress works. The fourth estate works very nicely. Things may feel bad right now, but the very fact that things feel so bad — that’s the immune system working.”
His lightning visit to Ottawa Wednesday serves two purposes — a mission of thanks for parliamentarians who helped sponsor the legislation and push for follow-through, to ensure the sanctions come with investigatory rigour. Browder will appear alongside Magnitsky’s 16-yearold son Nikolai, an aspiring artist who hopes to present Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a painting to commemorate his late father.
Browder hopes also to further enlist Canada in efforts at Interpol reform, to prevent unilateral targeting of people like him. He hopes Canada’s efforts will “internationalize the Magnitsky Act in a way the Americans never could.”
He reckons this trip is his 15th or more to Ottawa since he began campaigning seven years ago. It may take that many again, he says, to get the law fully implemented. He intends to live out his natural life in pursuit of the campaign.
“It changed my life forever when a man was slowly tortured to death at the age of 35 just because he was my proxy. How do you get over that? They killed Sergei Magnitsky in the most horrific way and then they covered it up. It was unforgivable, and for my own personal psychological reasons, I had to take up the fight.
“And now it seems to be getting worse because I’m at the centre of Putin’s anger. That’s even more a reason to keep talking. Telling this story — making noise, making sure more and more people are aware of it — is my best insurance
“At this point, if anything happens to me, it’s certain to be news.”