Duma Urges Yeltsin to Sack Central Bank Head

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia‘s Communist-led State Duma voted overwhelming on Wednesday to issue a request to President Boris Yeltsin to sack central bank chairman Sergei Dubinin. The lower house of parliament voted by 267 to two for a motion to send a memorandum to Yeltsin asking him, under a provision in the Russian constitution, to relieve Dubinin of his post. Such a move by Yeltsin would require Duma ratification. Opposition Duma deputies have been calling for Dubinin‘s resignation since the central bank allowed the rouble to float two weeks ago in the face of a collapse in government finances. The rouble was quoted at 12.7500/13.0000 per dollar on the electronic trading system of the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) on Wednesday compared to the official rate set by the central bank on Tuesday of 10.8333. Wednesday‘s level was half the value the Russian currency had before the float. The Duma memorandum is not binding on Yeltsin. Under Article 83 of the constitution, the president names and removes the head of the central bank. Both measures must be approved by the Duma. Dubinin was confirmed in office overwhelmingly by a previous Duma in November 1995 after parliament had twice refused to confirm his acting predecessor, Tatyana Paramonova. After the last major slump in the rouble, in October 1994, then central bank head Viktor Gerashchenko lost his job.