Scheme for filling Putin's wallet. What you need to know about the OCCRP investigation

The Panama scandal erupted in early April, but still continues to “delight” the public with new details.

History of the Panama scandal

Let us recall that in early April, as a result of an information leak, it became known that a large Panamanian firm called Mossack Fonseca & Co was involved in large-scale corruption deals aimed at hiding the income of unscrupulous taxpayers around the world. Among the TNCs that hid their income in Panamanian offshores are Coca-Cola, Apple, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, Ford, Goldman Sachs. The Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime reported on May 9 that more than 200 thousand offshore companies were involved in the Panama scandal. The list of the “Panamanian archives” mentions more than a dozen full namesakes of Russian millionaires. True, most of their offshore companies ceased to be active by 2015, most likely due to the adoption of the law on foreign organizations. It is possible that there are no fewer offshore companies among Russian millionaires - their owners simply prefer to register companies in the name of other persons. The Panamanian lists include many large politicians, including heads of state such as: the presidents of Ukraine, Argentina and the UAE, the Prime Minister of Iceland and the King Saudi Arabia. British Prime Minister David Cameron risks losing his post due to his involvement in illegal financial transactions.

Putin's entourage in the Panama Archives lists

Famous Russian politicians also appear on the Panama lists. For almost a month it has been discussed that a childhood friend and godfather one of Putin’s daughters, Sergei Rodulgin, had financial assets in Panamanian offshore companies. Although the president himself stated that Rodulgin spends all his savings on musical instruments and does not engage in illegal financial transactions.
The online newspaper “Economic News” reports that another wave of publications of documents from the “Panama Papers” confirmed the participation of the president’s cousin, Igor Putin, in Panamanian offshore companies. But Dmitry Peskov and his wife in new version there are no Panama lists, although their names were listed in the first document published by journalists. It became known about new names that appear in the “Panamanian archives”. Thus, according to unconfirmed reports, the lists include offshore accounts registered to the Rotenberg brothers - Boris and Arkady, as well as Ramzan Kadyrov and his relatives.

The Yabloko party began its “Panamagate”

Russian political party Yabloko could not remain indifferent to the unfolding events and stated that it would also look for the owners of Panamanian offshore accounts among Russian political figures.
The head of the party center for anti-corruption policy, which is part of the Yabloko party, Sergei Mitrokhin, called on party supporters to look for the names of regional deputies and officials in the database of the list published by journalists of the ICIJ organization. Let us remind you that the list was opened on May 9 and is located here. Most likely, activists of the Yabloko party will not be able to find major “finds” - the names of all famous personalities from the Panama list have already thundered in the media. But now it’s the turn of local and regional officials to worry. The Vedomosti newspaper reports that the Yabloko party has already found several new names of officials from the list: the names of two regional deputies and the son of the former prime minister of Udmurtia coincided.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on Monday, May 9, released the full Panama Papers database, which provides information on the owners of offshore companies from different countries peace. At first, in Russia, according to this database, there were 2,229 offshore owners, and 7,319 companies, but then the list was updated.

Now there are 6,285 Russians in the database. There are also 11,516 offshore companies associated with Russian citizens, and 5,534 addresses in Russia are mentioned, RIA Novosti notes.

For comparison, according to the same database, 8,995 offshore owners are among Chinese citizens, 4,536 among US citizens, 920 among British citizens. There are only 165 offshore owners from Ukraine.

On the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database project website you can find information on more than 100,000 offshore companies. After launching a database search, there were no unreleased documents left from the Panama Papers.

The consortium's YouTube account contains instructions explaining how to use the database.

According to a study by Columbia University professor James Henry, published on May 8 by The Guardian, more than $12 trillion was transferred from Russia, China and other developing economies through offshore companies. Chinese citizens are hiding $1.2 trillion offshore. Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, which have been involved in high-profile corruption scandals in recent years, are also among the countries that are disadvantaged in this sense, the newspaper writes.

According to the ICIJ database, 1,784 citizens of Malaysia, 2,961 citizens of Indonesia and 780 citizens of Thailand own offshore companies.

On April 3, 2016, the same ICIJ published large-scale material about the network of offshore companies around the world. The publication was made possible thanks to the leak of documents from the Panamanian company - the registrar of offshore companies Mossack Fonseca. In the analysis and addition received from anonymous source MossFon data was attended by hundreds of journalists from different countries, including employees of the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the British The Guardian and the Russian Novaya Gazeta.

The man who organized the leak of the Panama Papers about offshore companies first explained his motives on May 6 through the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, hiding under the pseudonym John Doe. He explained that he does not cooperate with any intelligence service in the world and has never worked for intelligence agencies. John Doe stated that he considers the current world order to be unfair and believes that crimes are often committed through offshore companies and, in general, this institution is used to make the rich get richer to the detriment of the interests of the less wealthy.

More than 300 economists from 30 countries called for the abolition of offshore companies

Once the investigation, known as the Panama Papers, was posted online, non-governmental international organization Anti-corruption team Transparency International called on the leaders of the G20 countries to “immediately” get together and ban offshore companies around the world.

On Monday, May 9, more than three hundred economists from 30 countries made a similar call to world leaders. Among the authors of the appeal is the laureate Nobel Prize in Economics 2015 by Angus Deaton, former chief economist of the International currency board Olivier Blanchard and many other famous economists who call for the abolition of offshore companies. In their opinion, the zones tax benefits"do not serve economic purposes“and do not add anything to “global welfare,” writes.

The announcement comes ahead of an international anti-corruption summit to be held in London on May 12, attended by politicians from 40 countries, as well as representatives of the World Bank and IMF. It will be hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

“Overcoming offshore companies will not be easy, since there is a huge personal interest of those who are satisfied with the current state of affairs,” note the authors of the appeal. In their opinion, “there is no economic justification” for the continued existence of offshore companies.

In 2006, instead of Ulyukaev Jr., a certain Yulia Khryapina became the director of Ronnieville and remained in this status until the liquidation of the company in May 2009. The authors of the investigation hypothesize that this is the wife of Minister Ulyukaev, based on certain similarities between a photo from a copy of Khryapina’s passport found in the Mossack Fonseca database and a later photo available on the Internet showing the minister, his wife and newborn daughter. In addition, according to her passport, Khryapina’s place of birth is Crimea, and Ulyukaev declared plots and houses in Crimea registered in his wife’s name. And finally, according to a team of investigative journalists, Yulia Sergeevna Khryapina was listed as a researcher at the Gaidar Institute, where Ulyukaev worked until 2000. RBC on Sunday evening was unable to find an employee with such full name on the institute’s website, but information about her was preserved in the Google cache and search on the Gaidar Institute website.

The investigation also mentions presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov. His surname sounds in connection with the company Carina Global Assets Ltd, registered in the British Virgin Islands in 2014. The application for registration of the company indicates the beneficiary - “professional figure skater” Tatyana Navka and attaches her photograph. From the same application it follows that the firm can purchase investment assets for the benefit of the beneficiary and manage assets worth more than $1 million.

The offshore was registered before the wedding of Peskov and Navka, which took place in 2015. The wife of Putin’s press secretary herself told Novaya Gazeta that she never had offshore companies or accounts. Journalists were unable to find out whether the beneficiary of this company changed in 2015.

Ivan Malyushin, deputy manager of the president’s affairs in 2003-2015, was listed as the sole beneficiary of the Panamanian Anttrin Services Corp. until 2013. But until mid-2013, there was no ban on offshore ownership. The authors of the investigation indicate that the company was liquidated three weeks late after the law came into force. Her main activity was “consulting services in the field of construction and property management,” which coincided with Malyushin’s core responsibilities in business management, the authors claim. At the same time, he was one of the richest civil servants in 2013: he owned more than 9 hectares of land, seven houses and 12 apartments.

Maxim Liksutov, Deputy Mayor of Moscow, in different times was the beneficiary of three offshore companies: Venlaw Consultants Co. Inc. (Bahamas), TG Rail Limited (Cyprus), Cantazaro Limited (Cyprus). A month and a half before the ban on offshore companies came into force, he transferred the shares to his wife Tatyana, whom he then divorced. Thus, the law was not violated.

Governors

Andrei Turchak, governor of the Pskov region, was also involved in the investigation. Kira Turchak, the governor's wife, was the sole shareholder of Burtford Unicorp Inc. from 2008 to 2015. in the Virgin Islands. The ban on owning foreign assets came into force in 2013, but Turchak’s wife remained a shareholder of the offshore until May 2015, notes Novaya Gazeta.

At the beginning of 2013, it turned out that the Turchaks had owned a company since 2008, to which a house in France worth €1.3 million was registered, the publication recalls. Andrei Turchak did not declare these assets either as governor or as a senator before that. He later explained that it was a mistake and reported on the sale of the villa.

Turchak told Novaya Gazeta that Burtford Unicorp was established in 2008 to finance a mortgage transaction for the purchase of an apartment in France and was officially closed on March 7, 2014. ​

The first director of Burtford Unicorp Inc. in 2008, Maxim Zhavoronkov, at that time deputy director of the Leninets company, associated with the Turchak family, became. And since 2009, he has been working as deputy governor of Turchak.

Governor Chelyabinsk region Boris Dubrovsky used the Panamanian offshore Spaceship Consulting S.A. in 2014. when purchasing bills Russian company, which he himself controlled, write the authors of Novaya Gazeta. In March and April 2014, Spaceship Consulting conducted two similar transactions: it bought promissory notes from Magnitogorsk LLC Property Center (IC) for 5 million and 7 million rubles, and then sold them again to Dubrovsky for an identical amount. The Chelyabinsk governor owned the information center through his company Novatek, journalists note. For money transfers he used an account in the Swiss BPER - the Private Bank of Edmond de Rothschild.

On January 15, 2014, Dubrovsky became acting governor of the Chelyabinsk region. By law, he was supposed to get rid of foreign financial instruments within three months, but, according to documents available to journalists, he did not do this. In agreements on the purchase and sale of bills of exchange, acting The governor indicated that he owned an account in the Swiss bank Rothschild.

Deputies and senators

Viktor Zvagelsky, State Duma deputy from " United Russia" was the ultimate beneficiary of Bariton Consultants Ltd (BVI) at least as of 2014, the investigation says. And Delcroft Real Estates Inc. (Panama) has belonged to him since 2011 and there is no data on the liquidation of this company, the authors claim. On behalf of Bariton Consultants, Zvagelsky could acquire assets in any part of the world and open accounts. According to experts interviewed by Novaya Gazeta, this activity can be classified as entrepreneurial, which is prohibited by the law “On the Status of a Deputy.”

The deputy himself confirmed his connection with Bariton Consultants, but claims that he took all steps to withdraw from the membership in 2012. And he said he had never heard anything about Delcroft Real Estates.

Mikhail Slipenchuk, State Duma deputy from United Russia, is the ultimate beneficiary of EuroImpex Group Corp. (BVI), the authors claim, citing internal audits of MF conducted in 2013 and 2015. But he himself claims that he sold his stake in the company back in 2007.

Suleiman Geremeev, a senator from Chechnya, had a general power of attorney to conduct the affairs of Grant Pacific Corporation (BVI) in 2004-2006. But at that time he was not a parliamentarian, but only an assistant to the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, in working with security forces, so there was no violation of the law, the authors believe.

Alexander Babakov, a State Duma deputy from United Russia, while a State Duma deputy in 2007-2011 (at that time he was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary faction) owned 100% of the shares of AED International Ltd. A month before filing the declaration in 2011, before the next Duma elections, he transferred the company to his 23-year-old daughter.

Security forces

Alexey Patrushev, whom Novaya Gazeta calls the nephew of Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, was a shareholder of Misam Investments Ltd in the BVI from 2010 to 2012. The Secretary of the Security Council does not personally appear anywhere in these companies, and Alexey Patrushev is not a civil servant, and he is not subject to restrictions related to foreign accounts, the authors note.

Igor Zubov, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, is mentioned in the investigation in connection with his son’s business: from February 2001 to June 2004, Denis Zubov was the sole owner of The Monumental Property Company Ltd, registered in the BVI.

Zubov Jr. became the owner of the company at the age of 22, and the company itself was involved in real estate. Now Denis Zubov owns half of the oil trader Metalit with revenue of almost 20 billion rubles. in 2014, writes Novaya Gazeta.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs told the publication that Igor Zubov does not have offshore accounts, and they are not authorized to comment on “issues related to the conduct of financial and economic activities by subjects of civil and corporate legal relations.”

04/11/2016 | Politkom.RU

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) have released a huge volume of documents about Panamanian offshore companies, which include the names of people from Vladimir Putin’s “entourage”, as well as 12 current and former world leaders, 128 politicians and 29 billionaires.

According to the authors of the investigation, we're talking about about approximately 11.5 million various kinds of documents revealing the scale of " shadow economy”, which brings together leading world politicians, businessmen and celebrities. Searching and studying these materials more than a year members of the ICIJ, the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung and dozens of other publications were involved. In total, more than 370 journalists from 76 countries took part in working with the obtained documents. ICIJ also calls its investigation the “Panama Papers” - after the place of registration of the Mossack Fonseca company, the leak from which formed the basis of the journalistic investigation. This company, journalists believe, is engaged in the creation of shell companies and corporate structures to hide the ultimate beneficiaries of assets.

The consequences of the publication of the dossier are multifaceted. Firstly, this was a powerful blow to the practice of offshore business in the world, against which world powers have been significantly tightening their combat mechanisms in recent years (primarily in the context of increasing the transparency of financial flows, combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism). The publication of the dossier could lead to a new wave of anti-offshore regulation.

Secondly, regardless of the versions about the involvement of the CIA, State Department or other government agencies in the publication (they are based on the fact that the Agency international development USA and charitable foundation Soros are among the sponsors of OCCRP), we are talking about increasing the public function of the international third sector and the journalistic community. As a consequence of globalization and the acceleration of the exchange and circulation of information in the world, the development of digital technologies, general control over information flows will become increasingly difficult. There is a dramatic increase in the information vulnerability of political classes and states.

Thirdly, it is unlikely that the publication of this dossier was targeted. A variety of people came under attack political leaders, businessmen and stars, for each of whom the consequences will be different. In context Russian reality special meaning has, for example, come into the focus of attention of journalists Petro Poroshenko: the Ukrainian aspect in the European press has become even more relevant than the discussion of Putin’s “billions”. There is also a growing disappointment of European elites in the post-revolutionary government of Ukraine. The objects of the investigation also included structures associated with the National Front of France, which received financial support from the First Russian-Czech Bank.

Fourthly, for Russia, that part of the dossier that affects Putin’s entourage is of absolute relevance. The ICIJ report, in particular, claims that people “in the close circle” of Russian President Vladimir Putin transferred at least $2 billion through offshore companies. The matter involved issuing obviously non-repayable loans, which could be a form of laundering of illegal funds.

Noteworthy is the noticeable difference in the reaction to the publication of data in Western countries. In Iceland, the dossier forced the prime minister to resign. Protests took place in a number of countries. Western governments, meanwhile, are trying to take special control of the situation, promising to investigate all violations. This is seen as an opportunity to deal with violations. The President of France, for example, promised to increase tax revenues as a result of investigations of offshore crimes. He called the publication of the documents "good news."

The Panama Papers primarily affects offshore business as such. The publication is intended for an international audience, for whom the problem of concealing and laundering illegal income is a priority. The theme of Russia in this context is not among the avant-garde; it is one of the ugly stories among dozens of similar ones. However, this was a blow to the international reputation Russian authorities, which was regularly criticized for high corruption. Inside Russia, this is unlikely to become a noticeable topic in domestic political life. Putin’s trust rating remains high, and the majority of the population either completely rejects negative information as fabricated, or believes that even if some (or even all) facts are true, the main thing now is to confront the “alien” West, and not to claim “ their leaders.

However, for Russia, China and other countries this has become unambiguous bad news. Dmitry Peskov spoke with harsh words, pointing out that the West was struck by the “bacillus of Putinophobia.” Minister mentioned in the Panama Papers documents economic development Alexey Ulyukaev stated that he had nothing to do with all this. United Russia member Viktor Zvagelsky is going to sue journalists. Rossiya Bank, whose minority shareholder is cellist Sergei Roldugin, who appears in the Panama Papers, called the publications an “information attack.” VTB President Andrei Kostin considered the Panama Papers data about Russian banks “false”, but recognized the importance of the topic of deoffshorization.

Vladimir Putin responded to the publications during his participation in the ONF media forum. Speaking about his personal attitude to the Panama Papers, the president said: “your humble servant is not there, well, there’s nothing to talk about.” In his opinion, the dossier appeared “on instructions” to create an information product. “We found acquaintances and friends, tinkered with something and put it together,” Putin continued. “And this is moving forward. There is some friend of the Russian President, he did something there, probably it has a corruption component. Which one? There is none there,” said the head of state. According to Russian leader, “when officials of the State Department or the US administration say some rude things, this means that they identify themselves as interested parties,” which is bad for the United States from the point of view of achieving the final result. “And it’s good for us, because we understand who the customer is,” the president concluded.

Putin also unequivocally stood up for his friend Sergei Roldugin, who was accused of creating an “offshore empire” worth $2 billion. “Many creative people in Russia, maybe every second, are trying to do business, and, as far as I know, Sergei Pavlovich too,” said Vladimir Putin. “But what is his business? He is a minority shareholder in one of our companies and earns some money there, but it is, of course, not billions of dollars. Nonsense, there is nothing like that,” the president continued, as quoted by Interfax. “I am proud of people like Sergei Pavlovich, among my friends and in general,” the president emphasized. He explained that “almost all the money” that Roldugin earned “he spent on purchasing musical instruments abroad and brought them to Russia.” “I am proud that I have such friends,” the head of state concluded.

The ONF platform has become a convenient format for Putin’s comments on the Panama case and Sergei Roldugin’s involvement in the scandal. The President developed his position in relation to this, presenting everything as a result of the geopolitical confrontation between the United States and Russia, and Washington’s desire to weaken Russia. For the majority of the population, this position will probably remain convincing, but in the liberal environment it has caused a lot of irony and sarcasm. Probably, the position was tested in anticipation of the president’s “direct line” scheduled for April 14. This will be the last opportunity for the president to have a “great dialogue” with his audiences ahead of the big election cycle in September 2016, and it is important for Putin to make the most of it.

05/04/2016 - 01:25

Panama offshore, a scandal erupts after the publication of a number of documents on eminent politicians, athletes and even heads of several states. The Panama Papers about Putin - this is exactly what the Russian government warned about when talking about some kind of “stuffing” that is being prepared by a number of media outlets.

Panama offshore scandal: On April 4, a number of documents were published, allegedly leaking from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The so-called “Panama Papers about Putin” were made on the materials of this company. The essence of the whole story is this: billions of funds are deposited in the networks of offshore companies, behind which are not only the heads large states, but athletes, musicians, politicians.

Panamanian offshore companies list all names: there are more than 100 names in total on the list. But the most prominent of them are the following: Xi Jinping (Head of the PRC), David Cameron (Prime Minister of Great Britain), Petro Poroshenko (President of Ukraine), Ilham Aliyev (President of Azerbaijan), King of Saudi Arabia Salman, football player Lionel Messi (he is suspected of tax evasion), even world-famous actor Jackie Chan.

In addition, in the lists of Panama documents the names are:

Sergei Roldugin (godfather of Vladimir Putin’s daughter),
- Mehriban, Arzu and Leyla Aliyev (wife and daughters of Ilham Aliyev),
- Nurali Aliyev (grandson of the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev),
- former Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzin Ivanishvili,
- Rami and Hafiz Makhlouf (cousins ​​of Bashar al-Assad),
- Pawel Piskorski (ex-mayor of Warsaw),
- Dilma Rousseff (President of Brazil, because of the Panamanian scandal with offshore companies he really faces impeachment),
- Pedro Almodóvar (Spanish film director, his brother Augustin is also listed).

However, upon closer examination it turns out that the so-called scandal with Panamanian offshore companies has no basis whatsoever. This is due to the fact that offshore companies are not prohibited and operate on legal grounds. Moreover, most of what has been published will soon be challenged in the courts.

The Panama Archive on Russia is primarily aimed at Vladimir Putin. But his name is not on these lists. There are names of Russians in Panamanian offshore companies, these are businessmen Suleiman Kerimov, Alexey Mordashov. Also listed there are the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev, Maxim Liskutov, Alexander Babakov and others.

Panama Papers about Putin - bomb failed. The idea of ​​the authors of this list is interesting. They believed that the Russians listed in the documents could have collected money for the personal purposes of Vladimir Putin. But only presumably, the supposedly 400 journalists who worked on the list have no grounds, much less any arguments or documents.

The Kremlin responded immediately. The Russian leader's press secretary, Dmitry Pescom, said that this publication is for Western world- a necessary measure. Thus, it was necessary to discourage people’s interest in the successes of Russia’s military operation in Syria.

If you liked this post,
share it or discuss it on social networks: