Some 800 Russians Evade Sanctions With Front Companies Abroad

More than 800 russians They are operating abroad thanks to companies that act as fronts to evade the sanctions imposed by the US and its Western allies, indicate documents published this Monday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ, in English).

In an update to the Pandora Papers, ICIJ revealed the identity and covert financial activities of Russian oligarchs, bankers and politicians, who are avoiding international sanctions imposed on Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine through a series of front companies.

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The names of those companies and the data of those 800 Russians, some of them from the environment of the president, Vladimir Putin, come from a leak in the database of the consulting firm Alpha Consulting Ltd, based in the Seychelles Islands and which, above all, offers services to Russian customers.

Among the people who appear in that database is the former Russian Minister of Communications and Information Leonid Reiman (1999-2008), who later was an adviser to Putin for two years until 2010; and the cryptocurrency specialist currently in prison in France Alexander Vinnik.

In addition, there are more than 45 Russian oligarchs and political figures, including businessman Mikail Gutseriev, founder of the main Russian oil company, Rosneft, and his brother Sait Salam Gutseriev, a member of the Duma, linked to one of the front companies. included in the database.

ICIJ pointed out that of the 45 oligarchs named, at least twelve have been targeted by international sanctions as of April 8.

The Consortium noted that 40% of the more than 2,000 overseas corporations and foundations in Alpha Consulting’s leaked data have one or more Russian owners, while 23% have one or more Ukrainian owners.

This investigation also exposes the link between front companies with firms and individuals from more than 100 countries and territories, such as Isabel dos Santos -the richest woman in Africa-, General Martin Rushwaya, presidential adviser in Zimbabwe, and the Armenian Davit Galstyan , owner of a company that manufactures weapons.

The British network BBC, citing confidential documents, revealed on Monday that businessman Suleiman Kerimov, a member of Putin’s close circle, allegedly used a figurehead to hide transfers worth 300 million dollars.

Those writings, part of the Pandora Papers obtained by ICIJ, suggest that Kerimov appointed a Swiss accountant as the owner of some of his companies and properties to hide his capital movements.

They also expose that between 2010 and 2015, the US authorities marked as suspicious transfers linked to Kerimov and his partners worth 700 million dollars (640 million euros), although they did not prove that they were linked to the oligarch.

Source: Elcomercio

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