U.S. Group To Audit Alfa Kapital

THE MOSCOW TIMESAlfa Kapital, one of Russia's largest investment houses, will be audited by the U.S. accounting firm Price Waterhouse, Interfax reported.Igor Smolkin, the fund's financial director, said the audit would cost about $100,000 and should be completed by the end of this week. Andrei Kosogov, Alfa Kapital's chairman, said this was the first time that a Russian fund would be audited by one of the big six Western accounting firms.Alfa Kapital works much like a mutual fund in the West, accepting investments from the public in both cash and privatization vouchers. According to the State Property Committee, Alfa Kapital has 1.2 million shareholders.Russian investment funds' activities have been controversial, with many promising returns of 600 to 1,000 percent but often falling short of such returns. Thousands of Russians have been victimized in investment schemes set up by fraudulent funds that collect vouchers and then disappear.President Boris Yeltsin has signed a decree barring investment companies from advertising future returns and requiring them to provide information on where investments are being made.