Story about Putin's $1.3 Billion Palace
Two days after Alexey Navalny, head of Russia's Anti-Corruption
Foundation (FBK) was arrested on his return to Moscow from
Berlin, he released a video expose that shocked Russians and
people around the world. In the video, "Putin's palace. History
of the world's largest bribe," Navalny alleged that an opulent
property near Gelendzhik, a town in the southern Russian region
of Krasnodar, was constructed for Russian President Vladimir Putin
with illicit funds of $1.35 billion, provided by members of his inner
circle, and that Putin is the real owner of the palace
(
https://bit.ly/3zIhckC).
The palace's features apparently include a port, a vineyard,
a church, a casino, an underground hockey rink, and toilet brushes
costing $850 a piece. "It is a separate state within Russia
And in
this state there is a single, irreplaceable tsar. Putin," Navalny said
in the video. Allegedly covering an area of 17, 691 square meters,
it is the largest private residential building in Russia. Putin
denied the claims. "Nothing listed there has ever belonged to me
or my close relatives," he said Tuesday.
Within 24 hours of its release to YouTube, the video reached 20
million views and within a week, 93 million, making it the activist's
most popular investigation.
By analysing more than 100,000 bank transactions, Pevchikh and
Alburov say they uncovered a complex web of transfers and shell
companies that facilitates the flow of money needed to sustain the
palace and its vineyards. They include the state-owned pipeline
monopoly Transneft, oil giant Rosneft and its Chief Executive Igor
Sechin, and Gennady Timchenko, Putin's business partner from the
1990s. Much of this money comes from rental agreements between
state companies and two companies that own the palace and the
vineyard respectively, FBK claims.
Navalny says that Transneft paid 4.3 billion rubles ($56.7 million)
in 'rent' and to legitimize monthly payments of 120 million rubles
($1.6 million), and that Transeft president Nikolai Tokarev visits
the area annually to deliver speeches and pose for photos.
Navalny said Binom's employees are also employed by an obscure
company, Aktsept, which is owned by Mikhail Shelomov, Putin's
cousin once removed (Putin's mother was Shelomov's great aunt).
The link to a family member was significant, Pevchikh said, pointing
out that Putin has transferred his palace's management from
individuals associated with the Kremlin to his own flesh and blood.
Through Aktsept, Shelomov owns 0.2 percent of Gazprom, worth
more than 8 billion rubles ($108.6 million) and the annual dividends
alone bring in more than 560 million rubles ($7.6 million), according
to the investigation. Despite apparently becoming one of Russia's
richest people, Shelomov kept his day job at Sovcomflot, the
country's largest shipping company, and continued to live relatively
modestly in a townhouse in St. Petersburg. This is because the
wealth in his name really belongs to Putin, claims FBK - "he is just
a nominee", says Pevchikh.
