Duma Delays Chubais Vote

The State Duma gave a cold shoulder Thursday to privatization chief Anatoly Chubais, postponing a vote on his draft post-voucher privatization law until next week.But Chubais, who vowed in a speech Monday to get the program through parliament and onto President Boris Yeltsin's desk by the weekend, indicated that the president could sign the program even without the parliament's approval."They can discuss it for a month, for a year or for 20 years -- it's their problem," Chubais, who attended the Duma meeting to present the draft personally, told journalists. "The program was approved by the government and submitted to the Duma and the president now has no further obligations."Under the post-voucher privatization plan, state property would be sold for cash at investment tenders, with companies retaining 51 percent of the investment, and federal and regional authorities splitting the remaining 49 percent. Privatized firms would be sold along with buildings and land to make them more attractive for investors. In a speech to the Duma on Thursday, Chubais praised the results of voucher privatization, saying that by July 1, when the program ended, about 70 percent of Russian industry had been privatized. He stressed, however, that privatized companies urgently needed investment to survive in a market environment. "Investment is central to the current economic situation," Chubais said, urging the deputies to pass quickly the law on post-voucher privatization.But as lawmakers and Chubais opened an exchange, the need for investment gave way to other concerns."Did you calculate the damage to Russia's enterprises from privatization -- and who personally bears criminal responsibility for this damage?" asked Igor Bratishchev, a Communist deputy from Rostov-on-Don. The Duma voted to discuss and possibly vote on the draft only next Wednesday. "The fact is that the document did not get through the parliament," Chubais said. "They simply did not show enough responsibility."