Thirty-five mansions, 43 apartments, seven yachts, 11 private jets or helicopters. The list compiled by The Guardian and journalists from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) are dizzying. Some 145 assets in total, which can be found from the heart of London to the Côte d’Azur via Tuscany, Italy. Total value: 15.5 billion euros, of which more than half a billion in the United Kingdom alone.
All these assets, to which are added offshore bank accounts, belong according to the British newspaper to 35 Russian personalities considered close to Vladimir Putin. “The list of names, which includes the four wealthiest Russian oligarchs, ministers and political advisers, had been drawn up by the opponent Alexei Navalny, then taken up by members of the American Congress as well as by a British deputy in the House municipalities, specifies the newspaper classified on the left. Twenty-seven of them are under sanctions imposed in the United States and Europe.
As explained The Guardianthe identity of the owners was confirmed using public databases and documents from massive leaks (Pandora Papers, Paradise Papers, etc.):
“Sometimes the name of the owner is public knowledge: this is the case of the residence belonging to Oleg Deripaska, squatted last week by activists.”
Shell companies and transfers to relatives
Assets included in the Russian Asset Tracker, a project that will continue in the coming weeks, “are only those for which the evidence was sufficient”. some goods, “who are widely suspected to be connected to certain oligarchs, do not appear in this first salvo of revelations”.
Held through front companies or transferred to relatives, the properties are theoretically beyond the reach of economic sanctions. “At the moment, Western governments are generally avoiding extending the measures to family members of oligarchs”confirm The Times.
The spokesperson for Alicher Ousmanov, a former shareholder of the Arsenal football club, for example, assured OCCRP that the real estate of the billionaire “have been placed in irrevocable trust”. “This type of declaration will increase the pressure on governments so that transferred assets are also targeted”wants to believe the London daily. “For the sanctions to be effectiveresumes The Guardian in another article, transparency is essential. The authorities absolutely must know who is holding what.”