Lifestyles of the Russian Powerful & Corrupt

[waltky]

Imposters or an expose of Russian Corruption...

Fathers And Children: The Internet Reacts To Putin's Alleged Billionaire Daughter
November 11, 2015 - Kremlin supporters and opponents are bickering online following Reuters' publication of an extensive investigation into the lives and fortunes of Russian President Vladimir Putin's two daughters.

The news agency confirmed longstanding rumors that his youngest daughter goes by the name of Katerina Tikhonova, and detailed her involvement with Moscow State University (MGU) after an extensive search of public records. According to the documents, she signed contracts worth about $2.8 million with state-owned organizations so that the institutions she manages could carry out work at the university. The projects are aimed at enlarging and improving the Moscow State University campus.

According to Reuters, Katerina Tikhonova (left) is Putin's youngest daughter and she is married to Kirill Shamalov (right), the son of a shareholder in Bank Rossia.​

According to Reuters, Tikhonova has also identified herself as a "spouse" of Kirill Shamalov, the son of Nikolai Shamalov, who is a shareholder in Bank Rossia. The company is often described as the "personal bank of the Russian elite." The young couple is believed to have corporate holdings worth about $2 billion, Reuters reported. In addition to two anonymous sources, Reuters cited Andrey Akimov, deputy chairman of Russian lender Gazprombank, as confirming to the news organization that Tikhonova was, in fact, Putin's daughter.

Katerina Tikhonova's connections​

Akimov is one of the investors in the projects headed by Tikhonova at the university. "I knew it was Putin's daughter. But of course we took the decision to support [MGU's] projects irrespective of any family connections," he told Reuters. The day the investigation was published, Gazprombank denied that Akimov made any statements regarding Tikhonova's relationship to Putin. "Akimov … was surprised and bewildered when he read the report by the Reuters news agency in which he is credited with the statement that … Ms. Tikhonova, is supposedly the daughter of the President of the Russian Federation," the November 10 statement read. "It is not so."

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Records Linking Russian Defense Minister's Daughter To Lavish Mansion ‘Disappear’
November 10, 2015 - The saga of a multimillion-dollar, pagoda-style mansion allegedly tied to Russia Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has taken a new twist, with activists accusing the federal government’s main real estate registry of altering documents linking the property to his immediate family.

Opposition leader Aleksei Navalny’s anticorruption organization last month published copies of documents from the registry showing that Shoigu’s daughter, Ksenia, became the owner of the property in a prestigious village on Moscow's western outskirts in 2009, when she was 18. But a funny thing happened to those documents retrieved from the database of Rosreestr, the federal agency tasked with maintaining Russian real estate records. According to the same activists who posted the records, they’ve now disappeared. Navalny’s chief investigator, Georgy Alburov, wrote in a November 10 blog post that documents showing Ksenia Shoigu’s links to the property have been excised from the Rosreestr database. “All of the owners have disappeared from the records other than the current one -- the sister of Shoigu’s wife,” Alburov wrote.

The mansion is estimated to be worth around $18 million, far beyond Shoigu's spending power.​

The current Rosreestr records on the property show that its owner is a woman named Yelena Antipina, whom Alburov claims is Shoigu’s sister-in-law. (Her last name is the same as the maiden name of Shoigu’s wife, Irina, and both women have the same patronymic -- Aleksandrovna.) Alburov published before-and-after scans of the Rosreester documents showing that references to Ksenia Shoigu had been deleted. He said he plans to sue Rosreestr over the purportedly doctored documents and that Navalny’s anticorruption group has asked the federal Investigative Committee -- Russia's analog of the FBI -- to look into possible criminal manipulation of government documents. “We will strive to bring criminal liability for everyone who decided to alter government databases in order to defend fraudsters,” Alburov wrote.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu​

The expensive tastes of Russian government officials and their families have proven to be populist kindling for Kremlin opponents’ fiery exposes of their lavish lifestyles, both inside Russia and abroad. Recent reports published by Navalny’s organization, called the Fund To Fight Corruption, alleged that the Kremlin’s chief spokesman owns an astronomically expensive watch and honeymooned on a yacht that costs 350,000 euros per week to rent. Alburov estimated the mansion purportedly owned by Shoigu to be worth “at least” $18 million, far beyond the minister’s spending power, judging by federally mandated disclosures of his and his family’s income and assets. The allegedly amended records now show no ownership of the property’s main plot of land until its acquisition by Antipina in 2012, though Google Earth images published by Alburov show that construction of the home began as early as 2010.

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[waltky]

The new Russian nobility...

The Heirs Of Putinism
November 12, 2015 - They run banks, pension funds, and electric companies. They're oil and gas executives. They're worth billions. And most of them are under 40.

Meet the children of Vladimir Putin's cronies. A new nobility is being born in Russia as Generation P -- the offspring of those in Putin's inner sanctum -- come of age, come into their own, and seek to inherit their parent's power. But if the past century of Russian history is any guide, this effort to establish a hereditary aristocracy is most likely doomed. An investigative report by Reuters this week looked closely at the emerging second generation of the Putin aristocracy. Much of it focused on Katerina Tikhonova, widely believed to be the Kremlin leader's daughter, and her husband, Kirill Shamalov.

Tikhonova runs publicly funded projects at Moscow State University and Shamalov, the son of longtime Putin crony Nikolai Shamalov, is a top shareholder at Bank Rossia. According to Reuters, the couple is worth about $2 billion, thanks mainly to a stake in a major gas and petrochemical company that Kirill acquired from Gennady Timchenko, another Putin associate. Kirill's brother Yury, meanwhile, is deputy chairman of Gazprombank and president of Gazfond, Russia's largest pension fund. But Tikhonova and Shamalov are just the tip of the aristocratic iceberg.

They grow up so fast!​

Also among the leading heirs of the new nobility are Sergei Ivanov, son of the Kremlin chief of staff of the same name, who is director of Gazprombank; and Dmitry Patrushev, son of National Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, who heads the Russian Agricultural Bank. Igor and Roman Rotenberg, the sons of Putin's former judo partner, Arkady Rotenberg, are respectively the majority shareholder of Gazprom Drilling and the vice president of Gazprombank. And Boris Kovalchuk, the son of Putin's longtime friend Yury Kovalchuk, is CEO of the electricity holding InerRAO.

And the list goes on and on. "Today in Russia, it is absolutely normal that the boards of directors at state banks are headed by children of security service officials, who aren’t even 30 years old when they are appointed," anticorruption blogger and opposition leader Aleksei Navalny told Reuters. "It is more than just a dynastic succession. Children don’t just inherit their parents' posts, but also the right to choose any other post they fancy.The danger is that very soon all key resources will end up in the hands of five to seven families."

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[waltky]

Marryin' into money is on Uncle Ferd's bucket list...

The man who married Putin’s daughter and then made a fortune
Dec. 17, 2015 - The story of Kirill Shamalov, the celebration of his wedding to the Russian president’s younger daughter, and the loan from a politically well-connected bank that helped make him a billionaire

The wedding party dominated a ski resort nestled in the hills about an hour’s drive north of St. Petersburg. No expense was spared and everyone was sworn to secrecy. The happy couple rode in a traditional Russian sleigh drawn by three white horses, said one of the workers who described the scene to Reuters. The bride wore a long pearl-tinted wedding dress, the groom wore a dark overcoat, said another person who attended. The newlyweds were Katerina, younger daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Kirill Shamalov, son of an old friend of Putin. Their wedding celebrations took place in February 2013, at Igora, a small ski resort that combines beauty and discretion, five people who were there told Reuters. Set amid woodland with a picturesque lake, the resort is co-owned by the family of Yuri Kovalchuk, another old friend of Putin, and a Cyprus company with undisclosed shareholders.

SWIFT RISE: Kirill Shamalov, son of an old friend of Vladimir Putin, was able to borrow about $1.3 billion via a new company wholly-owned by him.​

One person who attended the event said staff were told the bride and groom were named Kirill and Katerina, and that guests wore white scarves embroidered with the letters “K&K” in red thread. When shown a photograph of a woman known as Katerina Tikhonova, the source identified her as the bride. Tikhonova is Putin’s younger daughter, as Reuters confirmed in November. “Guards were behind every corner, (they) didn’t let anyone close to the celebration,” said a staff member at the resort, which has a luxurious spa complex. “But we knew it was Kirill and Katerina – Putin’s daughter – celebrating marriage.” At the time of the wedding, Kirill – a tall, dark-haired man with rimless glasses - was a rising star of Russian business, but still only 31. His fortunes began to skyrocket soon after his wedding to the president’s daughter, a competitive acrobatic dancer who is now helping to oversee a $1.7 billion expansion of Moscow State University.

IGORA: The ski resort, pictured in 2008, where Katerina Tikhonova and Kirill Shamalov celebrated their wedding in 2013.​

Within 18 months, Kirill acquired a large chunk of shares in a major Russian oil and petrochemical processor called Sibur - a stake now worth an estimated $2.85 billion, based on the value of recent share deals. He also quit his job as a business manager and set up a company to run his personal investments. How did such a young businessman go so far, so fast? A Reuters examination of Shamalov’s career shows that in the summer of 2013, months after he married Putin’s daughter, Kirill opened discussions about buying shares in Sibur from one of the president’s wealthiest friends. A year later, he was able to borrow more than $1 billion, judging by the published accounts of his investment company. The loan came from a bank headed by another longtime associate of Putin, and where Shamalov’s brother holds a senior position. The money was used to make an investment in Sibur that within months proved highly profitable for Kirill.

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[waltky]

Russian priest speaks out against Russian elite...

Russian priest rails against suffocation of ‘immoral elites’
Sun, Dec 27, 2015 - A conservative priest who lost his high-level job at the Russian Orthodox Church assailed Russia’s “immoral elites” on Friday and predicted a national catastrophe if the country fails to allow free public discussion.

Father Vsevolod Chaplin — who headed the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for cooperation between church and society — was relieved of his duties on Thursday and his department was disbanded. The church’s Holy Synod explained the move by citing the need to increase efficiency. Chaplin sharply criticized Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill for failing to listen to critical voices and predicted that Kirill would be replaced soon.

Chaplin hadnot issued any public criticism of Kirill before being relieved of his duties, and in the past had staunchly defended the Patriarch against accusations of indulging in luxury. Chaplin told a news conference on Friday that Russia would face an “inevitable catastrophe” if the authorities fail to allow “live discussion and live public process.” “Immoral elites are hampering the nation’s development... to prevent a revolution, we need to actively offer models of peaceful reforms,” Interfax news agency reported him as saying.

His view that the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox Church should have taken a stronger action in support of pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine had caused tensions between him and the patriarch, Chaplin told RBC news portal. Chaplin, 47, has long attracted public attention with controversial statements. He once said women should dress more modestly to avoid provoking rapes.

Russian priest rails against suffocation of ‘immoral elites’ - Taipei Times

 

[TheOldSchool]

Interesting info Waltky... but half the country is dangling from Putin's balls.

 

[waltky]

Putin friend in 'money laundering ring'...

Panama Papers: Putin associates linked to 'money laundering'
Sun, 03 Apr 2016 - A suspected money laundering ring run by close associates of Vladimir Putin has been uncovered in a leak of confidential documents.

A suspected money laundering ring involving close associates of Vladimir Putin has been uncovered in a leak of confidential documents. The billion-dollar operation was run by Bank Rossiya, which is subject to US and EU sanctions following Russia's annexation of Crimea. Evidence seen by BBC Panorama reveals for the first time how the bank operates. Documents show how money has been channelled through offshore companies.

They suggest Sonnette Overseas, International Media Overseas, Sunbarn and Sandalwood Continental have profited from fake share transactions, bogus consulting deals, uncommercial loans and the purchase of under-priced assets. The documents show that International Media Overseas and Sonnette Overseas were officially owned by one of the Russian president's closest friends.

Panama Papers - tax havens of the rich and powerful exposed

* Eleven million documents held by the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca have been passed to German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, which then shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. BBC Panorama is among 107 media organisations - including UK newspaper the Guardian - in 78 countries which have been analysing the documents. The BBC doesn't know the identity of the source
* They show how the company has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax
* Mossack Fonseca says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and never been accused or charged with criminal wrong-doing
* Tricks of the trade: How assets are hidden and taxes evaded
* Panama Papers: Full coverage; follow reaction on Twitter using #PanamaPapers; in the BBC News app, follow the tag "Panama Papers"

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Panama to work "vigorously" to investigate offshore accounts
Apr 3,16 -- Panama's president says his government will cooperate "vigorously" with any judicial investigation arising from the leak of a vast trove of information on the offshore financial dealings of the world's rich and famous.

An international coalition of media outlets Sunday published investigations it said stemmed from the leak of 115 million records kept by the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca on behalf of clients.

President Juan Carlos Varela said in a statement that the revelations shouldn't detract from his government's "zero tolerance" for any illicit activities in Panama's finance industry.

Ramon Fonseca, a co-founder of the law firm whose documents were leaked, told Panama's Channel 2 that the firm isn't responsible for any criminal activity carried out with offshore vehicles created for clients.

News from The Associated Press

 

[waltky]

Dead man walking...

Russia Run by 'Mafia' System, Says Leading Opposition Activist
June 03, 2016 — Alexei Navalny, the leading Russian opposition activist who heads the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and the unregistered Party of Progress, was interrogated by police this week, after which his office and home were searched. The police action was connected to a libel case against him brought by former Russian Interior Ministry investigator Pavel Karpov.

Karpov is among a group of people on whom the U.S. government imposed sanctions for their alleged involvement in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, the Hermitage Capital lawyer who died in a Moscow prison in 2009. The Kremlin's own human rights council said Magnitsky, who was arrested accusing Russian officials of involvement in a $230 million tax fraud scheme, was probably beaten to death. Karpov filed suit against Navalny on May 19, accusing the anti-corruption activist of slandering him by posting a video that asked how an Interior Ministry officer with a modest official salary could have come into possession of expensive cars and apartments without engaging in corrupt practices.

Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny leaves a detention center in Moscow, Russia​

Navalny has been the target of various criminal investigations and has been repeatedly interrogated. On May 17, Navalny and about 30 FBK members were attacked by a group of men wearing Cossack hats and uniforms at an airport in southern Russia. Navalny accused Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika and his son Artem of being behind the attack. Back in December, the FBK published a report linking Artem Chaika to organized crime. In an interview with VOA's Russian service, Navalny discussed his latest problems with Russian law enforcement agencies.

In this frame from video provided by Anapa Today, opposition leader Alexei Navally, center, tries to get up after being attacked at the Anapa airport, southern Russia​

Q: What happened in the latest incident, and why are Russian law enforcement structures once again putting pressure on you?

A: On the morning of June 1, I was called in for questioning. The interrogation was rather formal. And then, after the interrogation, people entered the office and said, "Hello, we are [from] the criminal investigation department. We are going to search you personally." They patted down my back, lifted up my trouser legs, forced me to take off my shoes, checked to see if I had some terrible secrets in my shoes, and then declared that they were going to search my home. This was, on the one hand, absurd, of course. Because it's ridiculous: What kind of search can you do in a libel case? The criminal case was launched the same day the libel case was filed: There is no indication of why it was [a] slander [case], what information the policeman Pavel Karpov does not like. ... In general, it's all absurd.

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[waltky]

Russian crackdown on corruption...

Money bag: Police raid on anti-corruption official uncovers over $120mn in cash
10 Sep, 2016 - A raid on the acting head of Russia’s anti-corruption agency turned out to be quite productive – police found a bag big enough to accommodate over $122 million in cash, sources told Russian media.

Police arrested Dmitry Zakharchenko, the deputy head of the Energy Industry Department of the General Administration of Economic Security and Combating the Corruption (GAESCC), after the operation. According to investigators, police seized a sum of some $120 million and € 2 million ($2.2 million). “The final amount is unknown. [Police] confiscated a cache only in [Zakharchenko’s] house; it is not yet known how many more assets [he has], but we are working in this direction,” a source told RIA Novosti.

TASS quoted police sources who said the money was found in a bag. “A large amount of cash was located in his study,” sources said, adding that the Zakharchenko refused to comment on the nature of the money or its origins, only claiming that he is not guilty. The official was taken to court and on Saturday accused of abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and accepting bribes, a court spokesperson told RIA Novosti.

Governor of Kirov Region detained while receiving €400k bribe - Investigative Committee​

The court ruled that Zakharchenko must be held in custody for two months, until November 8, TASS reported. In the meantime, Life.ru news portal released the first pictures of money alleged to be Zakharchenko’s. The investigators reportedly had to find a big box in order to squeeze in all of the cash they had found. Reports later emerged claiming that the apartment where the money was discovered belongs to Zakharchenko’s sister, which the arrested official confirmed, TASS reported.

Zakharchenko’s lawyers proposed that bail be set at 70 million rubles ($1 million). “We are asking about two alternative measures: home arrest or 70 million rubles ($1 million) bail,” Zakharchenko’s lawyer Yury Novikov said, as cited by Interfax. According to TASS’ sources, the money belonged to NOTA-Bank, which had its license revoked in November of 2015.

Money bag: Police raid on anti-corruption official uncovers over $120mn in cash

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Governor of Kirov Region detained while receiving €400k bribe - Investigative Committee
24 Jun, 2016 - The governor of the Kirov Region has been caught "red-handed" while receiving a bribe of €400,000 ($446,000). According to investigators, he was getting the money from a company associated with the criminal case of anti-corruption activist Aleksey Navalny.

The head of the region in Central Russia Nikita Belykh has been detained and a criminal case launched, spokesman of Russia's Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin announced on Friday. Belykh was caught red-handed while receiving the money in euro currency at a Moscow restaurant, he added, saying that investigators will seek the governor's arrest. The euro notes were apparently marked by police. According to investigators, Belykh was getting the money for his actions in favor of the bribe-giver, who controlled two companies – the Novovyatsky Ski Plant and Forestry Managing Company.

The latter entity is associated with Russian opposition figure Aleksey Navalny. Among its co-founding companies in 2010 was the Kirovles (Kirov Forest), which was later involved in the criminal case against Navalny. In 2013, the activist was found guilty by a Kirov court of embezzlement within the Kirovles. Originally sentenced to five years in prison, Navalny's sentence was later changed to suspended, with a fine of 500,000 rubles ($7,700).

Belykh, who has been governor since January 2009, is now suspected of corruption, related to a number of investment and business projects in his region. The criminal case against him is not politically-motivated, Markin stressed. He recalled other instances when cases against former governors of Russia's Komi and Sakhalin Regions were launched, and said corruption charges cannot have a political subtext.

Governor of Kirov Region detained while receiving €400k bribe - Investigative Committee

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Anti-corruption blogger Navalny sentenced to 5 years behind bars for embezzlement
18 Jul, 2013 - Prominent anti-corruption blogger and opposition activist Aleksey Navalny has been found guilty of embezzlement on a large scale, and sentenced to 5 years in jail.

Navalny was immediately remanded into custody after the verdict was read out, along with his accomplice Ofitserov, who got 4 years in prison. Both Navalny and Ofitserov said goodbye to their wives. “He and us, we were prepared for it – to the extent that one may be able to prepare for things like this,” Yulia Navalnaya said. She added that despite the isolation, Navalny is planning to carry on with the anti-corruption activity. Ofitserov is a father of five children, and his wife, crying in court, said goodbye to her husband. Both Aleksey Navalny and Ofitserov have been transported to a detention facility in Kirov.

The reading of 100 page document took more than three hours, with the judge asserting the court’s decision wasn’t politically motivated. The court ruled that Aleksey Navalny and Ofitserov, caused 16 million rubles ($500,000) in damages to the state-owned Kirovles timber company where Navalny worked as a volunteer in 2009. Navalny's lawyers say they are going to appeal the verdict, which they must do within the next 10 days. Navalny had previously said he might drop out of Moscow’s mayoral race if convicted, his electoral team said. The team’s head, Leonid Volkov, said that they are going to address the Moscow election committee shortly. However, they still plan on organizing protests and a boycott campaign against the upcoming September poll. The Moscow election committee stated that despite the verdict, Navalny remains a registered mayoral candidate by law.

The supporters of the opposition leader gathered outside the court, holding banners criticizing Russian authorities. More rallies are planned across the globe for on Thursday, including calls to gather in the center of Moscow. Navalny stood trial on charges of embezzling property from the state-owned Kirovles Company in 2009, which is located in Russia’s central Kirov Region.[ At the time Navalny worked as a volunteer aide to Kirov Governor Nikita Belykh, who was tasked with reforming the region’s industry. The prosecution said Navalny ordered Ofitserov, whom the court deemed to be his accomplice, to set up an intermediary firm and then persuaded Kirovles director Vyacheslav Opalev to sign a contract with the company on unfavorable terms.

Navalny has been standing trial over embezzlement of property from the state-owned Kirovles company, in the central Russian Kirov Region, that took place in 2009. Back then the would-be whistleblower worked as a volunteer aide to Kirov Governor Nikita Belykh, dealing with reforms of regional industry. The prosecution said Navalny ordered Ofitserov, called his accomplice by the court, to set up an intermediary firm and then persuaded Kirovles director Vyacheslav Opalev to sign a contract with the company on unfavorable terms. The overall damages to Kirovles amounted to 16 million rubles, according to a law enforcement estimate. Navalny and his defense adamantly denied the charges, saying that as a voluntary aide for the governor he had no leverage to persuade state executives to make such significant decisions, and that the court failed to prove that he actually benefited from the scam.

Politically motivated case?