RAO Unified Energy System

[Copperfield]

Bank Failure Endangering Nuclear Plants — Companies
Created: 02.07.2004 14:38 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:08 MSK
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/07/02/dialog.shtml

MosNews

The heads of several Russian energy companies have said that backlogged payments from the under-fire Dialog-Optim bank may lead to “emergency situations” at some of the nation’s nuclear plants which the energy companies supply.

The energy companies have called on the Central Bank to take “immediate measures” to regulate the conflict, a Dialog-Optim spokesman told MosNews.

He said, however, that the transactions involving the companies were between their own banks, and could not have affected atomic energy plants.

The four companies — Khimenergo, Energokaskad, Energogigant, and Spetsenergoprodukt-95 — are all clients of the Dialog-Optim bank and say the bank has frozen their accounts and is not making transfers.

The companies have not informed Dialog-Optim directly, however, the spokesman told MosNews.

As a result of the delays, repair work at several nuclear electric plants is under threat of cancellation, Ekho Moskvy radio quoted the letter as saying. The postponement of repairs at the Kalininskaya Nuclear Electric Plant, which is located only 300 kilometers from Moscow and is as powerful as the late Chernobyl plant, may lead to disaster, the letter says.

The companies say they renounce all responsibility for the nuclear stations if the Central Bank fails to take appropriate measures.

The bank’s troubles began when clients issued complaints earlier this month that Dialog-Optim bank is limiting payouts on deposits and processing all client payments with delays. The problems sparked further fears of a liquidity crisis among banks that started when Sodbiznesbank was stripped of its banking license.

Dialog-Optim, meanwhile, denies its role. “We cannot influence atomic energy in Russia,” the bank’s spokesman told MosNews. “[Nikolai Shinkarev of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency] said it is unacceptable to mention atomic energy in the context of the liquidity crisis.”

The Central Bank, quoted by Ekho Moskvy radio, has also said that nuclear plants are under no risk as of yet.