Leading the way? Huge corruption case. The head of Kremlin property, Pavel Borodin, signed contracts with foreign companies worth billions, all the money was transferred through Swiss banks. In 1998, Swiss authorities found irregularities in the transactions and opened a formal investigation through Carla Del Ponte (Swiss federal prosecutor) led by her counterpart Yuri Skuratov (Russian prosecutor general). He soon suspects a vast money laundering operation, hidden behind the golden doors of the Kremlin. Pavel and his team took advantage of their close ties to President Vladimir Putin to inflate the cost of their work, allowing them to create contracts several times the actual price and pocket the difference. One of the Swiss partners benefiting from Borodin's projects was a Swiss company called Mabetex with whom he signed a $350 million contract for "interior design." The scandal even threatened to engulf the president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, and by the late 1990s, Boris was seriously ill and barely able to govern, so much so that when I had a meeting with the president American, the CIA wasn't even sure. if he was still alive. Towards the end of his reign, Boris became close to several political and non-political figures, these figures constituted a sort of political group around Boris, the group received the name “the family”. The family consisted of Boris's daughter Tatiana, her future husband Yumashev, businessmen Boris Berezovsky and finally Roman Abramovich. When the family noticed Vladimir Putin, Russia changed forever. In the fall of 1998, the Kremlin inner circle and family were looking for a new prime minister to be appointed by Yeltsin, the Russian Constitution...... middle of paper...... V. (April 28, 2014). Putin's oil czar has emerged from the shadows to wield vast power. Retrieved from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/28/ukraine-crisis-sanctions-sechin-idUSL6N0NE1H120140428Stewart, G. (January 14, 2014). Putin observed. Retrieved from People.fas.harvard: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~gestewar/putinobserved.htmlWalker, H. (May 14, 2014). Business Insider Australia. Retrieved from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/bill-clinton-vodka-shots-after-first-putin-meeting-2014-5 Whitmore, B. (August 11, 1999). Putin gives the Kremlin direction on the regions. Retrieved from the Moscow Times: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/putin-sets-kremlin-sights-on-regions/273839.html Willan, P. (August 26, 1999). The Yeltsin family “took wives.” From The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/aug/26/russia.philipwillan