Vladimir Putin has a vast personal fortune and may be
one of the richest men in the world, according to a number of former Kremlin
insiders.
From their exiles around the world,
they spoke to the BBC for a Panorama investigation into the alleged
corruption of the most
powerful man in the world. Here's what we learned.
He 'has a $1bn
palace'
Sergei Kolesnikov told the programme he worked for the Kremlin to
collect money from the super-rich, which they believed was to be spent on
healthcare, but which was ultimately used “to help build a $1 billion palace
for Mr Putin on the Black Sea coast”.
The BBC said it had seen documents from one of the offshore companies that
diverted millions of dollars to the palace, which was constructed during Mr
Putin’s first term as president.
It said that, according to Mr Kolesnikov, the owner of the company, Lirus
Investment Holding, was Mr Putin himself.
Mr Kolesnikov was also allegedly filmed discussing Mr Putin’s secret
fortune – investments of up to $440 million – with another Kremlin insider.
Sergei Pugachev, an exiled oligarch who says he helped Mr Putin become
president, told the BBC he was “preoccupied with wealth from the start”. He
said he visited one of the presidential palaces with Mr Putin during his first
term. “We talked about it, he didn’t hide it, he knew he wanted to leave office
a wealthy man,” he said.
A vast fortune
Putin's public financial disclosures depict a man of
modest means, as far as world leaders go. In April, Putin declared 2014 income
of 7.65 million roubles ($119,000). He listed the ownership of two modest
apartments and a share in a car parking garage.
Adam Szubin, acting Treasury secretary for terrorism
and financial crimes, said in an interview with BBC Panorama that the Russian
president has been amassing secret wealth.
He declined to
comment on a 2007 CIA report estimating Putin's wealth at $40 billion, but
he said the Russian leader's stated wealth is an underestimation.
He supposedly
draws a state salary of something like $110,000 a year," Szubin said.
"That is not an accurate statement of the man's wealth, and he has
longtime training and practices in terms of how to mask his actual
wealth."
Russian political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky told the
BBC he had information from “confidential sources” to also put Mr Putin’s
wealth at “$40bn in assets”. He said: “I’m still sure Putin is the richest man
in Europe, one of the richest men in the world.”
Huge oil business stakes
The US Treasury told the BBC it has evidence to tie
Putin to profits from a businessman on the US sanctions list, Gennady
Timchenko, a long-time Putin acquaintance and then co-owner of Gunvor, which
trades nearly 3 per cent of the world's oil.
The US government imposed sanctions against a number of Kremlin insiders in
2014 and stated that Vladimir Putin had secret investments in the energy
sector. However, the Americans did not directly accuse him of corruption at the
time.
"Timchenko activities in the energy sector have been directly linked
to Putin. Putin has investments in Gunvor and may have access to Gunvor
funds," the department said in a statement announcing the sanctions.
Max Freidzon, another exiled businessman, told the BBC Mr Putin gave him
the monopoly to provide oil to an airport in the nineties – in exchange for a
secret, 4 per cent stake in his business.
And a yacht from Roman Abramovich
Dmitry Skarga,
who used to run the state shipping company Sovcomflot, says he oversaw the
transfer of a $35m yacht to Mr Putin. Mr Skarga says the 57m-long Olympia was a
gift from Britain's most famous Russian - the Chelsea football club owner Roman
Abramovich.
"It's a fact that Mr Abramovich, through his
employee, transferred a yacht to Mr Putin," he said. "I was on board
of this yacht at the end of March 2002, in Amsterdam. And there was a
representative of Mr Abramovich… He said that Roman is the owner of this
yacht."
Mr Skarga says the Olympia was transferred to Mr Putin
via an offshore company, and that he later managed the yacht for Mr Putin and
prepared secret reports on the boat's running costs.
Panorama said Mr Abramovich's lawyers dismissed
claims about him as "speculation and rumour".
He ‘is corrupt’
Mr Szubin
said: "We've seen him enriching his friends, his close allies and
marginalizing those who he doesn't view as friends using state assets. Whether
that's Russia's energy wealth, whether it's other state contracts, he directs
those to whom he believes will serve him and excludes those who don't. To me,
that is a picture of corruption," Szubin was quoted as saying.
The Kremlin has denied such allegations. For his part,
Putin has repeatedly said that he has read press reports about his immense
wealth, including that he was even the world's richest man, but he has denied
those reports as nonsense. In a statement in 2010, Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry
Peskov said Mr Putin "has never had any relationship to" the $1
billion palace.
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