Panama offshore scandal: names, Panama papers about Putin, who ended up on the list of “money launderers.”

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 Panama lists include many major political figures, including heads of state such as the presidents of Ukraine, Argentina and the UAE, the prime minister of Iceland and the king of 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

Well-known 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 offshores. 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 “ Panama Papers» confirmed participation in Panamanian offshore companies cousin President - Igor Putin. 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”

The 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.

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, Khryapina’s place of birth according to her passport 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 research fellow 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 Google cache and searching on the website of the Gaidar Institute, information about it was preserved.

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 attached 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 time 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 “ New Newspaper».

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.

In 2014, Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky used the Panamanian offshore company Spaceship Consulting S.A. 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 documents revealing the scale of the “shadow economy”, in which leading world politicians, businessmen and celebrities participate. Members of ICIJ, the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung and dozens of other publications have been searching and studying these materials for more than a year. 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, which world powers are against last years significantly tighten combat mechanisms (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 digital technologies, overall 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 the 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 were also 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 states, in part, that people “from close circle“Russian President Vladimir Putin transferred at least $2 billion through offshore companies. It was about 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 the 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, this was definitely bad news for Russia, China and other countries. 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 The State Department or the US administration say some boorish things, this means that they identify themselves as interested parties,” which is bad for the United States in terms of achieving 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.

As stated in the German publication Süddeutsche Zeitung, the documents sent to him by an unknown whistleblower, and previously stolen from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, should be called the largest leak of information to which representatives gained access. The newspaper received these files about a year ago. Based on them, an investigation was carried out, which resulted in the identification of companies registered in offshore companies and owned by a large number of world-famous politicians, athletes and celebrities. With their help, they could earn a lot of money while evading. We are talking, perhaps, about several tens of billions. Last Sunday, several influential publications published a report on the investigation, which caused a strong response in the West.

In total, more than 11 million files were stolen from the Panamanian company. These documents contain the results of the law firm's work over the past 45 years. Mossack Fonseca is known to specialize in registering offshore companies.

The person who provided the information did not want any financial reward, employees of the aforementioned German newspaper note. The only thing he asked was to ensure his anonymity. All materials received were handed over to ICIJ, an investigative journalism organization. About 4 hundred employees of various Western media studied the information received. The corruption research organization OCCRP was also involved in the work.

Anyone wishing to open a business in Panama should first contact a local law firm. Among them is Mossack Fonseca, which is one of the leading companies. The head office of this company is located in the capital of Panama. Thanks to a large number representative offices, the company can operate in many other countries.

It was founded by a certain Jürgen Mossack, whose father, as noted, was an SS man and fled to Panama after the war. Also a co-founder is the famous writer Ramon Fonseca. He recently served as advisor to the head of Panama.

As the Guardian assures, the above company is considered 4th among other leading companies in the profile market. The documents, which came into the hands of an employee of the German publication, indicate that over the entire period of activity, the firm’s lawyers have helped with the registration of more than 200 thousand enterprises in offshore jurisdictions for representatives of more than two hundred. As investigators note, approximately five thousand financial institutions, including such well-known ones as the English HSBC and UBS from, regularly used the services of the law firm and, at the request of their clients, registered more than 15 thousand commercial organizations in offshores.

Money laundering through offshore companies was carried out by Russian officials through their relatives.

Among the most notable clients of the Panamanian company are such well-known politicians as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, some relatives of people from the Russian leader’s inner circle, the head of Iceland Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and many others. However, as indicated, the creation of companies in offshore zones is not prohibited, if the registered companies conduct legal activities. At the same time, it was possible to find out that in a number of cases the Panamanian company did not conduct proper checks in order to ensure that there was no criminal component.

For example, investigators managed to track down a rather dubious transaction carried out by several offshore companies. So 4 years ago, a certain Sandalwood Continental, registered in the Virgin Islands, lent two hundred million dollars to another organization based in the territory - Horwitz Trading Ltd. Just one day later, the first transferred the right to the debt to Ove Financial Corp. At the same time, the amount of compensation was only one. The latter, literally a few hours later, paid the debt to another organization for the same price. As a result, in just one day, this money changed four owners and passed through two financial institutions. Thus, the mentioned amount turned out to be practically untraceable, investigators note.

According to the data specified in the report, the above companies are related to Yuri Kovalchuk, who in the West is called nothing less than the banker of the Russian president, and a fairly well-known musician, Sergei Roldugin. The latter himself admitted that he is on friendly terms with Putin.

In total, according to investigators, about $2 billion was transferred through such companies related to a number of Russian officials. It is also noted that a certain part of these funds may have been used by them for personal needs.

In particular, about 5 years ago, Sandalwood issued a loan in excess of $11 million to an organization that owns the Igora ski resort, located in the Leningrad region. According to British media reports, it was here that Ekaterina Tikhonova’s wedding took place. According to Reuters, the latter is Putin's native.

However, no companies opened in offshore companies owned by Putin were found. In general, the stolen papers mention more than 140 different famous political figures and public figures. In particular, it is noted that the owner of offshore companies is the Argentine football player Lionel Messi and the famous Jackie Chan. There are at least six commercial entities registered in his name and managed by Mossack Fonseca.

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Russian officials violated the law if they managed offshore companies they owned, experts say when analyzing the Panama Papers. But in practice, only new Western sanctions pose a danger

What threatens the heroes of the investigation in Russia

The authors of an investigation based on materials from the Panama Papers discovered offshore companies in the families of 13 Russian deputies and officials. With strict adherence to domestic anti-corruption legislation, some persons involved in the investigation could be threatened with dismissal, it follows from the comments of the deputy director of the Center for Anti-Corruption Research “ Transparency International Russia" (TIR) ​​by Ilya Shumanov.

IN Russian law There is no concept of “offshore” in anti-corruption legislation, but its provisions do not allow Russian officials and deputies to dispose of foreign companies, notes Shumanov. Since 2013, civil servants have been prohibited from participating in business transactions abroad and using foreign financial instruments in the form of bills, loans, and bills. Offshore is foreign financial instrument, therefore, a civil servant does not have the right to manage it, Shumanov emphasizes.

A civil servant has the right to be a beneficiary, a beneficiary of an offshore, but by law the official must declare it. In addition, there should be no conflict of interest between the activities of the offshore company and the civil servant.

According to Shumanov, if a civil servant is a beneficiary (beneficiary) of an offshore, this does not mean that he is the owner of a foreign account. “Owns the account entity, not physical,” explains the expert.

There is a gap in Russian anti-corruption legislation: if a civil servant has transferred his offshore company into trust, law enforcement agencies can turn a blind eye to this. “It’s just that the agreement on transfer to trust management must state that the beneficiary is changing,” says Shumanov.

The expert adds that due to errors by registrar companies, it may turn out that a civil servant is listed in the database as the owner of an offshore company, although he has transferred it to trust management. This is exactly what was stated by several persons involved in the investigation interviewed by RBC, in particular, Deputy Viktor Zvagelsky and Chelyabinsk Governor Boris Dubrovsky.

How the media uncovered a gigantic network of offshore companies around the world

Panama Papers

A year ago, an unknown person provided the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung with access to 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which provides support for transactions and registration of offshore companies.

The German newspaper did not have the opportunity to analyze all the material on its own and involved the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which in turn turned to more than a hundred editorial offices and organizations fighting corruption around the world. In total, more than 370 journalists from 76 countries took part in working with the obtained documents.

On Sunday, they presented the results of their work: in The Panama Papers, they were able to link the names of 12 current and former world leaders, 128 politicians and 29 billionaires from the Forbes list to offshore companies.

Who funds the investigations

Information about the foundations and organizations that finance ICIJ is presented on the consortium website. Among these organizations is the foundation founded by George Soros. Open Society", the Adessium Foundation (Netherlands), the Ford Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the British Sigrid Rausing Trust, the American Pew Charitable Trust and a number of others. Organizations that support the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Authority (OCCPR) include Open Society and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Most offshore owners practice entrepreneurial activity, the expert emphasizes. “Although there are also offshore companies that cannot engage in commerce,” he says. State Duma deputies are prohibited from participating in any business activities.

According to the anti-corruption law, if a civil servant is found to have an undeclared foreign asset, including a financial one, he faces disciplinary liability - removal from office.

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“Had no relation”: how officials responded to the OCCRP investigation

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) profiled 13 Russian officials whose...

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An inspection of a civil servant for violation of anti-corruption legislation should be initiated by the prosecutor's office. In the case of deputies, the decision to resign is made by the Duma commission for monitoring the reliability of income information. According to the law, she can also begin checking declarations based on an appeal from the manager political party and media editors, deputy chairman of the commission Vladimir Pozdnyakov explained to RBC, the commission itself cannot initiate an inspection.

But in reality, when it comes to public investigations into corruption of high-ranking officials, law enforcement agencies, as a rule, do not react to them in any way, Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) lawyer Lyubov Sobol told RBC. “There is a reaction when our employees do not publicly file statements about violations, when there is no mention that this is a statement from Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation,” says Sobol. According to her, for the authorities to initiate a criminal case after a public and high-profile investigation means showing weakness.

Are sanctions possible abroad?

The publication of such investigations may be a reason to check whether a civil servant in his country complied with the requirements of tax legislation on the disclosure of companies and the payment of taxes and legal requirements for public officials, Artem Toporov, senior lawyer for international taxation at the law firm Goltsblat BLP LLP, tells RBC.

Inspectors can also investigate whether transactions carried out through companies do not constitute independent crimes, whether special legislative requirements have been violated, etc.

What journalists learned about the president's friend

Vladimir Putin’s youth friend Sergei Roldugin was one of the shareholders of the largest television advertising seller in Russia, Video International (Vi), owning 20% ​​of the company through offshore companies. In 2010, when it was announced that 100% of Vi was bought by the structures of Rossiya Bank, Surgutneftegaz and the main shareholder of Severstal Alexei Mordashov, 12.5% ​​of the seller was received by the Cyprus Med Media Network - a 100% subsidiary of another offshore structure International Media Overseas, the real beneficiary of which is Sergei Roldugin.

Industrialist

Roldugin turned out to be one of the beneficiaries of companies that owned blocks of shares in automobile plants - KamAZ and AvtoVAZ. Troika Dialog of Ruben Vardanyan could have acted in his interests by buying up shares of these enterprises. About 32.2% of the 54.4% shares of KamAZ were owned by Troika through the Cypriot Avtoinvest Limited. In 2007, Troika transferred all rights to manage Avtoinvest to the offshore Avto Holdings Ltd. In 2008, Roldugin's company Sonnette Overseas acquired 15% of Avto Holdings and entered into a shareholder agreement with its other co-owners, including Troika. The ultimate goal of the agreement was to obtain a controlling stake in KamAZ through Avtoinvest. There were similar agreements between Troika and offshore companies associated with Roldugin regarding AvtoVAZ shares.

In turn, transactions using funds of illegal origin can be qualified as legalization of funds acquired criminally or as a result of the commission of a crime. And this could lead to the freezing of funds and assets and the filing of criminal claims not only in Russia, but also abroad, the expert says.

Information contained in the Panama Papers raises the risk of new US sanctions against people considered close to President Vladimir Putin and companies associated with them. Cellist Sergei Roldugin is one of the few in Putin’s entourage who escaped American sanctions in the spring of 2014. Bank "Russia", named by the US Treasury " personal bank“High-ranking Russian officials “apparently tried to exploit this loophole” [that Roldugin was not subject to sanctions], writes The Guardian, which participated in the journalistic investigation. In 2014, after the imposition of sanctions against Yuri Kovalchuk and Rossiya Bank, Swiss lawyer Andres Baumgartner helped open a secret account in the Swiss subsidiary of Gazprombank for the offshore International Media Overseas, owned by Roldugin.

OFAC (the division of the US Treasury Department responsible for sanctions) is generally “very concerned about the issue of circumventing existing sanctions: if an individual is found to be helping to circumvent existing sanctions, OFAC may add him to the list of SDNs (individuals whose assets are in American jurisdictions are blocked,” Doug Jacobson, a lawyer at the American Jacobson Burton Kelly PLLC, who specializes in sanctions, tells RBC. At the same time, OFAC can rely on any sources of information, including journalistic data, the lawyer notes.

Two companies are also at risk of sanctions due to the “Panamanian” leak: Russia’s largest TV advertising seller Video International (Vi) and the Cypriot RCB Bank, 46% owned by VTB.

State bank subsidiaries are involved

European regulators have announced their readiness to inspect banks included in the Panama Papers. The attention of local regulators may be attracted by the Swiss subsidiary of Gazprombank - Russische Kommerzial Bank (RKB) and RCB Bank, which is 46% owned by VTB and 19.85% owned by FC Otkritie.

Official representative of the Swiss regulator financial markets FINMA Vincent Mathis, in response to a request from RBC, said that media publications about the so-called Panama Papers will be taken into account. “As part of its supervisory activities, FINMA will clarify to what extent the banks participated in the schemes and whether Swiss laws were complied with,” FINMA said in its response. However, FINMA refused to comment on the activities of individual organizations and individual names.

According to investigative journalists, one of the main sources of financing for Roldugin’s offshore companies were huge unsecured loans from RCB Bank, commercial sense which is in doubt. The Guardian reports the words of a "high-ranking source in Moscow" who describes RCB as a "private wallet" for the top government officials. Until the fall of 2014, VTB owned 60% of the Cyprus bank, until it sold part of the shares to Otkritie Bank. Thanks to this transaction, RCB Bank ceased to be subject to automatic sectoral sanctions (restrictions on attracting Western financing) as a subsidiary of VTB. According to Paragon Advice Group partner Alexander Zakharov, if Western authorities become interested in the findings of the investigation, RCB will have potential risks associated with the possibility of inspections by OFAC. Currently, RCB is not part of the VTB group (the state bank owns only 46% of the shares) and is not on the sanctions lists.

From the “Panama archives” it follows that Roldugin in 2010-2015 was a secret shareholder of Vi through the Cyprus Med Media Network, whose beneficiaries were previously unknown. Mossack Fonseca documents show that the owner of 100% of Med Media is Roldugin’s offshore International Media Overseas. Roldugin controlled 20% of Vi at least until 2015, when the stake was transferred to the offshore Robertson Financial, whose beneficiaries have not been identified.

An OFAC representative did not respond to RBC's request, and a US State Department spokesman said that the State Department, as a rule, “does not comment on leaks.” “It is unclear how or when OFAC uses Mossack Fonseca's information, but I am confident that they are interested in these documents and OFAC will carefully review this information,” Jacobson says.

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