One of Putin's real wallets has come to light. This is not some kind of businessman out there who makes money off state orders. Sergei Roldugin is an old friend and godfather of one of Putin's daughters.
A person who did not arouse suspicion, was not involved in business.
Musician, what kind of money and offshore companies are there?
But it turned out that the humble musician was driven at least $ 2,000,000,000 to offshore accounts.
When you are the president of an authoritarian country, it is very easy to steal money from the budget. It's harder to hide them. Even harder to spend. We, of course, understand that the capital of Timchenko, Rotenberg and Kovalchuk also belongs to Putin to one degree or another. But all the same, for example, the Rotenbergs cannot be considered as completely nominal holders - they completely manage the business. When you use Rotenberg's money to buy apartments for your girls (and their grandmothers), scandals like the recent one are possible.
Putin's idea was to keep stolen personal money in the most unexpected place, with the most unexpected character - a famous cellist musician, a loyal and honest person (in relation to the boss) and, apparently, quite modest even in everyday life. No red ferraris and other nonsense.
But this cunning plan also has a weakness. A musician, even the most talented and most popular in the world, simply cannot have that much money. State banks do not lend hundreds of millions of dollars to cellists. The oligarchs do not give (and even more so do not forgive later) the debts of billions of rubles to cellists. The managers of Rosneft and Sberbank do not make obvious criminal deals to enrich the musician's offshore company by another million or two dollars.
Roldugin cannot say a word clearly about "his" offshore empire. Indeed, what can you say, this is a delicate question!
The most interesting thing about the Russian part of the investigation is not even Roldugin himself, but a description of how the country's main corruption scheme works - a scheme to enrich Putin personally and his family. Where did the money come from, how it was distilled, how it was laundered, what it was spent on.
Where does the money come from? Mostly securities and loan fraud. The story of the sale of Rosneft shares is described. One day, the contract for the sale of shares was concluded with Roldugin's firm and immediately terminated. Roldugin, according to the terms of the contract, is entitled to a forfeit of $ 750,000. Great.
Or more. Alexey Mordashov's company (Severstal) lends Roldugin's company $ 6 million. And immediately forgives the debt.
Similar stories are repeated with Kerimov and Rotenberg.
Who else took part in this holiday and threw himself off on Putin's offshore? Of course, state banks. Russian Commercial Bank, a Cypriot subsidiary of VTB, which issued bad loans to the Roldugin offshore company. They opened a credit line for the Panamanian company for $ 650 million (!!!), thereby providing generally plus or minus unlimited access to money. Sberbank (through its subsidiary Troika) was also involved, participating in transactions for the fictitious sale of shares, which were bought back by the old owners the next day.
But this is not the most interesting part of this story.
Another interesting detail is described in the British Guardian. The Guardian writes that in 2012, "Putin's entourage" began to get nervous and stopped using the Panamanian offshore. All financial fraud was transferred from Panama to the British Virgin Islands. The new offshore, according to journalists, is associated with the companies of Mikhail Lesin (the one who died in a third-rate hotel for homosexuals, and then was resurrected).
We are waiting for the continuation, it should be very interesting.
President Vladimir Putin has rejected suggestions that he actually owns a significant portion of the assets of his friend, cellist Sergei Roldugin, who has become one of the key heroes of the Panama Papers. He said this in an interview with the journalist of the American TV channel. Nbc Megyn Kelly.
“Yes, I know this man very well, he is one of my friends,” Putin answered to Kelly's first question about Roldugin. - He is a wonderful musician. His whole life is devoted to art, music. We have many, by the way, art workers who are in business in one way or another. He, besides me, has other connections in the country, including with business representatives who included him in this work. He legally earned some money. He did not earn any hundreds of billions. All the money that he personally earned, he used to purchase musical instruments abroad and imported them into the territory of the Russian Federation. He uses some of these instruments himself, practically alone, the cello, he plays the cello. "
The journalist clarified that it was a $ 12 million instrument, to which Putin replied that it was a unique instrument. “Imagine, he is such an abnormal person, and people of art are all a little greetings, he spent all this money on the purchase of musical instruments. I think I bought two cellos, I think two violins, I play on one myself, I gave the rest to other musicians, and they use them in their work. They are all imported to the territory of Russia, ”the president explained.
The journalist went on to ask questions about Roldugin's references in the Panama Papers, in which he was credited with assets worth $ 100 billion. “You know, I am not aware of his business, his affairs of some kind, but believe me, I know for sure that he has just enough real income to buy these musical instruments. Everything else is some kind of paper movements, on paper, he no longer has anything except what he acquired. Maybe he has something else, but you should ask him this, I do not control his life. "
On clarifying questions, Putin invited Kelly to compare Roldugin's successes in business with the successes of representatives of American show business and stressed: "According to my information, he did not violate anything."
“This is definitely not my money. I didn’t even count how many of them Mr. Roldugin had, as I said. But, according to my data, in his activities, both in the creative and in the business component, he never violated anything, not a single Russian law, not a single legal norm, ”concluded Putin.
In April 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime published an investigation into an international network of offshore companies based on documents from a Panamanian law firm Mossack fonseca... The Panama Papers also featured Russian citizens, including cellist Sergei Roldugin. Sources of Novaya Gazeta called him the "keeper" of Vladimir Putin's personal assets.
Cellist Sergei Roldugin, who is featured in an OCCRP investigation into offshore schemes, said he was spending money to support young musicians. He explained that he used to "go and ask" for money from patrons. Mr. Roldugin confirmed that he has known Vladimir Putin since 1977 and is the godfather of his eldest daughter. The musician stressed that friendship with the head of state helps to maintain culture with the involvement of business.
People's Artist of Russia, cellist and artistic director of the St. Petersburg House of Music Sergei Roldugin, implicated in the investigation of the Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime (OCCRP), said that he was spending money to help young musicians.
“Who can help hundreds of young musicians find a happy life? I can. Isn't that happiness? I am very pleased with what has hit me. There is nothing to catch here. Everything is open here. I'm richer anyway - I own the talents of Russia! " - said Mr. Roldugin in an interview with the TV channel "Russia 1".
The cellist noted that earlier he was forced to ask billionaires to support the culture and the House of Music, which was "brought to such a state." “I went and begged everyone I could, because the instruments are expensive ... And I just wanted the best instruments, the best professors, the best halls. All the best for our Russian guys, for musicians. It costs crazy money. And I went and asked, ”complained Sergei Roldugin.
The musician said that some patrons offered him a small share in the business in order to have their own money to support the music school, and not ask for it.
Mr. Roldugin confirmed that he really knew Russian President Vladimir Putin since 1977, and was also the godfather of his eldest daughter. He also noted that friendship with the president contributes to the support of culture with the involvement of business. “We are investing in hundreds of young people. The return on these investments is such that they won the Tchaikovsky competition, the Elizabeth competition, the Chopin competition. Here are the results! " - said the musician.
On April 7, Vladimir Putin said at the All-Russian Popular Front media forum that there is no corruption in his activities, or in the activities of his friend businessman Sergei Roldugin, whose name appears in the OCCRP investigation related to offshore schemes.
We will remind, on April 3, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published a large-scale investigation based on the documents of the Panamanian offshore registrar Mossack Fonseca. The archive of documents that turned out to be in the hands of journalists covers the period from 1977 to 2015.
The Panama Papers talk about offshore schemes to hide billions of dollars, in which 12 former and current heads of state and more than a hundred politicians and celebrities from more than 50 countries, and not just Russian figures, may be involved. According to ICIJ, a friend of the president, Sergei Roldugin, owns several companies, including Sandalwood, associated with business operations with the structures of Bank Rossiya. The total amount of transactions that go through this chain was estimated by ICIJ at $ 2 billion. In addition to Sergei Roldugin, the Panama files mentions the wife of President Dmitry Peskov's press secretary, Tatyana Navka, the son of the Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev, Dmitry, and famous people from other countries.
The Kremlin said it "expected more qualified work" from ICIJ on the databases of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called the ICIJ investigation "information exercises" against Vladimir Putin. "Rather, I can probably express my disappointment," said the president's press secretary.
Original of this material© novayagazeta.ru, 03.04.2016, Photo: pskov.ru, via novayagazeta.ru, RIA Novosti, Illustrations: novayagazeta.ru
Gold score
On March 24, 2016, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic under the direction of Yuri Simonov performed at the Great Hall of the Conservatory. The orchestra performed the first composition (adagio for strings by Samuel Barber), after which the presenter announced the second number of the program - the work of Ernest Bloch “Shelomo” - a Jewish rhapsody for cello and orchestra. The musicians stood up, and a man in a black satin shirt, with a slightly old-fashioned, but artistic hairstyle, appeared on the stage. The full audience greeted him with a standing ovation. He took the place of the soloist, adjusted his experienced and, apparently, beloved cello more comfortably and froze. After a slight hesitation with the notes, which caused an approving smile in the hall, the orchestra began to play. The cellist, who embodied in this work the voice of the glorious king of the Jews Solomon, played with rapture, closing his eyes in order to abstract from the world around him and remain alone with the magic of music.Roldugin is not just a friend of the leader of Russia, to which (not always justifiably) many successful people in the country have been ranked in recent years, but, in fact, he is a person with whom a lot is connected in the life of the president. In the book "From the First Person" Roldugin is one of the most mentioned characters: he could not only watch the life of Vladimir Putin from the outside, but from his youth he was a participant in the most important events in the fate of the president. Together they went through street fights on the streets of St. Petersburg, which was restless at the time; together they went AWOL, while Roldugin served in the army, and, singing songs, cut across Leningrad at night in the old "Zaporozhets"; went to the theater together with the "pretty girl Luda", While not yet Putin.
“Before leaving for Germany, they have Masha ( Putin's first daughter... - Ed.) Was born. My former father-in-law had a dacha outside Vyborg, a gorgeous place, and when we took her away from the hospital, we went there and everyone lived there: Volodya, Luda, my wife and I ... We, of course, celebrated Masha's birth ... In the evenings they arranged such dances ... "Stop the thief, stop the thief, it's time to catch him!" - said Sergei Roldugin, who became the godfather of the first daughter of the future president of Russia.
Unlike other friends of Vladimir Putin who were included in the Forbes list during his reign, nothing was known about the wealth of Sergei Roldugin until today. Although the cellist made no secret of his friendship with the president, his only asset that was publicly discussed was his minority stake in AKB Rossiya, known as the “President's Friends Bank”. “I’m not a businessman, I don’t have millions,” Roldugin admitted in an interview with The New York Times in 2014. [...]
Offshore empire
In the corridor of the conservatory, after Sergei Roldugin performed his part of the musical program, a line of former students and fans lined up for him. Before the reporters of Novaya Gazeta, a young man approached the maestro - either a former student, or the son of a friend. “I am now engaged in finance, I work at Vnesheconombank,” he began ... “Well, you, I am far from that: you see, I even have a second-hand cello,” Roldugin replied. And then he met us and invited us to his dressing room.When we asked him about offshore companies with a turnover of billions of dollars, he did not close (openness, it seems, is one of his main positive qualities), but he avoided answering as if he was really not deeply immersed in this topic: “Guys, To be honest, I can't give any comments now. I have to look and understand what can be said and what is not. I'm just afraid to give interviews. When I refused to give interviews to some Germans, they wrote that Putin had so intimidated his acquaintances and friends that they were afraid to speak. This is how they expose me. I understand that there are very important things here. Do you do business or not? Where does the money come from? Whose? I know all this. These are delicate things, ”the cellist agreed.
Then we told maestro Roldugin the names of offshore companies, as well as their transactions with strategic assets in the country, in particular KAMAZ, AVTOVAZ, Video International (a key player in the TV advertising market), and asked directly if he had attitude towards them. “I've been involved with this business for a long, long time. Even before perestroika. It happened. And then it began to develop, and such things turned out. This money is also subsidized by the House of Music (which Roldugin heads in St. Petersburg. - Ed.). This is the subject of a separate conversation, "said the musician, putting the request from Novaya Gazeta in a case with a cello and promising to talk to us in a few days. But then he did not answer our phone calls.
However, judging by the documents, the offshores in question were registered not before perestroika, but in 2006-2009, and existed until 2014-2015 (then they were closed). The main companies in this story will be four companies, two of which belonged directly to the Russian cellist, the rest - to people associated with him.
In particular, Roldugin was the owner of Sonnette Overseas from the British Virgin Islands and the International Media Overseas (IMO) from Panama. In these companies, the interests of the president's friend were represented by entrepreneurs from St. Petersburg, Oleg Gordin and Alexander Plekhov (both are associated with the Rossiya bank). They, in turn, were shareholders of Sandalwood Continental and Sunbarn Ltd (see diagram).
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But together they can be considered part of the same scheme: the same employees conducted the affairs on their behalf; their documents were sent in one package; many deals were made and signed on the same day. And these companies were also managed from one place - Bank Rossiya.
Where does the money come from?
Judging by the documents from the MF database, the total turnover on bank accounts of Sandalwood Continental alone amounted to about $ 2 billion, and the reports for 2009 indicate that the value of its assets was 18 billion rubles. The turnovers of other companies from the scheme, as far as we can judge from the documents available to us, are less, but they also amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. Where did they get that kind of money?Funding sources for the group of offshore companies associated with Roldugin can be roughly divided into three groups:
A) dubious over-the-counter transactions with shares of the largest state-owned companies in Russia - Rosneft and Gazprom;
B) "donations" from large Russian businessmen;
C) soft loans from the Cyprus RCB Bank.
"Trading" stocks
For example, in 2010, IMO, owned by Roldugin, was supposed to conclude a deal to buy Rosneft shares from another offshore structure. There are two contracts in the MF database. One is for the purchase of shares, and the second is for the termination of this agreement. What's the point? Roldugin's company immediately received compensation for breaking the contract - 750 thousand dollars.We managed to find many similar deals with other companies associated with Sergei Roldugin. Such operations made it possible to earn millions of dollars out of thin air. (It is curious that the same method - non-fulfillment of contracts for the sale and purchase of shares - was used by fraudsters in the Magnitsky case to create fictitious obligations and then steal income tax from the budget.)
In some cases, the agreements were still executed, but the musician was still incredibly lucky over and over again. His companies bought shares of Russian enterprises, and the next day they sold exactly the same stakes to exactly those from whom they bought them yesterday, but with a significant profit, which allowed them to earn $ 400-500 thousand. Roldugin's counterparts in these operations were losing all the time. They were companies associated first with the Troika Dialog investment fund, and then with Sberbank (after the latter bought Troika). Troika and Sberbank declined to comment on these transactions.
The managers of Sergey Roldugin seemed to know in advance how the market would behave and how the share price would change. But there is no magic here.
The experts interviewed by us believe that in reality these transactions could not have been carried out and, apparently, only served as a documentary basis for payments from other sources. This version is also supported by the fact that some contracts were closed retroactively when market fluctuations were already known.
The documents on these transactions were shown by reporters for the Swiss newspaper Sonntagszeitung to Mark Peet, professor of criminal law and criminology at the University of Basel and a former member of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). “These transactions are highly suspicious. They should have raised a red flag for the bank, ”the expert said.
Why did the banks not respond to these transactions? In the case of Sergei Roldugin, this can be easily explained. The musician's companies kept their money in foreign subsidiaries of Russian banks, which, judging by the documents, did not follow very carefully the client verification procedures.
For example, when IMO opened an account in the Swiss branch of Gazprombank in 2014, Sergei Roldugin, as a beneficiary, had to indicate whether he was a “pep” (a person with political connections) or familiar with another “pep”. In both cases, the Russian cellist said no, although at that time information about his friendship with Vladimir Putin was open.
According to expert Mark Peet, Gazprombank was required by Swiss law to verify Roldugin's claims. “But I see no sign that it was done. Otherwise, the bank would most likely refuse to open an account for the client. If a bank accepts an inaccurate customer data declaration, then it has violated Swiss law, ”says Peet.
"Donations" from businessmen
The deals of large Russian entrepreneurs with the companies of Sergei Roldugin may, in a sense, resemble those that Sergei Kolesnikov, who previously worked with other close friends of the Russian president, spoke about in 2010. After Kolesnikov left Russia, he open letter he wrote to the then President Dmitry Medvedev that Russian oligarchs made donations to the president's friends, and 35% of this money was deposited in offshore accounts. In the case of Roldugin, we are not talking about donations in the literal sense of the word, but about payments with unclear economic feasibility. Here are some of the most striking examples.In July 2007, Sergei Roldugin's company Sonnette Overseas received a loan from another offshore structure, Levens Trading, $ 6 million at 2% per annum. A couple of months later, the lender forgiven this debt to a friend of the president for a "reward" of $ 1. Levens Trading may be linked to a Russian businessman Alexey Mordashov: according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, this offshore company owned 100% of Severstal-Vtormet.
Structures apparently close to Mordashov also paid other companies associated with Roldugin. For example, in 2009-2010 Sunbarn Ltd entered into several model agreements for consulting services totaling $ 30 million with offshore companies Jabiru Consultants and Pearl Kite Trading. Under the terms of these agreements, Sunbarn Ltd was supposed to provide information "on investment opportunities in Russia." At least one of the payers, Jabiru Consultants, was previously a shareholder in Severstal's structures.
Alexey Mordashov was also mentioned in the letter of Sergei Kolesnikov as one of the businessmen who donated to friends of President Putin. Alexey Mordashov refused to discuss the deal with Sergei Roldugin with us. [...]
The prosperity of offshore companies associated with Sergei Roldugin was also helped by structures close to Suleiman Kerimov... As a result of only two complex transactions, Roldugin's offshore companies received rights of claim for 4 billion rubles and 200 million dollars, respectively, having paid no less than 2 dollars for this. How did this become possible?
In 2007, the offshore Tokido Holdings lent 4 billion rubles to OJSC National Telecommunications (NTK), the largest Russian cable TV and Internet operator. At that time, NTK, according to their annual report, was controlled by the Nafta group of companies by Suleiman Kerimov. In 2008, NTK shares were sold to National Media Group, owned by Bank Rossiya. However, the debt to Tokido Holdings had not yet been paid off at that time.
And then one day, September 20, 2010, two transactions were made: first, Tokido Holdings transferred the right to claim 4 billion rubles from NTK to another offshore company, Desmin Holdings, under an assignment agreement; and Desmin on the same day for $ 1 transferred the same right to Sandalwood Continental, a company associated with Sergei Roldugin. In 2011-2012, NTK was acquired by the state-owned company Rostelecom. And it was the state-owned company that eventually paid off its old debts by paying 4 billion rubles.
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Regarding these transactions, a representative of Kerimov explained that “in conditions of difficult economic realities after the 2008 crisis, the project management company decided to write off the installment payment for the transaction, due to the deterioration of the company's development opportunities in comparison with the announced plans. The deal remained within the acceptable level of profitability. "
In addition, the representative of Kerimov said that he, as a member of the Federation Council, is not involved in business, he does not know information about the transactions, and he is not familiar with Sergei Roldugin and was not in any relationship.
The MF database contains documents about other similar cases. For example, in 2011, IMO, owned by Roldugin, for the same $ 1 "bought" the right of claim for another $ 200 million from another offshore company - Ove Financial Corp. Unfortunately, we were unable to find out who is behind this structure.
Bank loans
Another major source of funding for Roldugin's offshore group was loans from the Cyprus-based RCB Bank, which was controlled by the state-owned VTB. The documents show that a line of credit worth at least $ 650 million was opened for Sandalwood Continental in 2010-2012. This means that the offshore company could at any time use RCB Bank as a huge money bag, from where it was possible to get funds at the necessary time to finance a variety of projects.At the same time, some loan agreements were drafted in such a way that even MF's lawyers had questions about whether the money would be returned to the bank. The documents show that MF employees were wary of whether or not such agreements should be signed at all, in which neither the purpose of the loan, nor the repayment procedure were clearly spelled out.
Money laundering expert Mark Peet has the same opinion: “These loans do not seem to have a commercial component. They do not specify adequate security, which is usually found in normal agreements. " Indeed, in most of the loan agreements that are in the database, there is no question of any security - the company associated with Roldugin, without any risk, received hundreds of millions of dollars from the "daughter" of the Russian state bank. The bank itself categorically denies this point of view.
A representative of RCB Bank told ICIJ that the bank follows all legal requirements in its activities, therefore, “the assumption that RCB Bank is a so-called“ wallet ”for high-ranking Russian officials has no basis and does not correspond to the current state of affairs." Moreover, the bank assured that it voluntarily transferred the request from the ICIJ to the anti-money laundering authority in Cyprus for an independent investigation.
What did you spend on?
Some of the funds that were accumulated offshore were then invested in Russia. These investments can be conditionally divided into two groups - "for recreation" and for the purchase of strategic assets.Resorts, yacht clubs, palaces
In 2011, Sandalwood Continental, associated with Sergei Roldugin, issued about 200 million rubles in two loans to the Russian firm Ozone. These agreements had "friendly" terms: one of the loans was for 10 years, the other - for 20 years, and both at 1% per annum.The next year, 2012, Ozone became the owner of a large plot of land in the Priozersky District of the Leningrad Region. The Igora ski resort is located on this site. Last year, Reuters reported that allegedly in this place in February 2013 took place wedding of the president's daughter.
In the same 2011, Sandalwood Continental issued on the same "gentlemanly" terms 40 million rubles as a loan to the company "Laguna". Laguna has the same address as the Igora ski resort. And the company itself owns a yacht club on the shores of Lake Ladoga.
A company associated with Sergei Roldugin, on preferential terms, provided about 50 million rubles to the Russian firm Nord House, which owned land plots and a hotel complex in the city of Sortavala, Republic of Karelia. Today this property, according to Rosreestr, is owned by Dacha Winter LLC. In this picturesque place, on the banks of Ladoga, surrounded by coniferous forests, today there is a premium hotel with the same name - Winter's Dacha.
All these Russian companies are somehow connected with the Rossiya bank and its co-owner Yuri Kovalchuk... Kovalchuk's representatives declined to answer ICIJ questions.
Strategic assets
Offshore companies associated with Sergei Roldugin also controlled shares in the country's largest enterprises in various sectors of the economy - from the production of trucks to the sale of TV advertisements."Video International"(Vi) is the largest TV ad seller in the country. Recently deceased in the United States was involved in the creation of the company Mikhail Lesin, former press minister and presidential adviser.
In 2010, all business media in Russia reported that Vi had come under the control of structures associated with Bank Rossiya. This acquisition was preceded by legislative initiatives that could significantly affect the market value of the company. At that time, Vi controlled 70% of the advertising market, but then amendments to the law "On Advertising" were adopted, limiting the share of one seller to 35%. And on the bad news, which usually leads to a significant decrease in the value of the asset, it became known that the company was acquired by the structures of Bank Rossiya. But among these structures there were also offshore companies owned by Sergei Roldugin.
Interestingly, after Vi passed to new influential owners, the company's income, despite legislative restrictions, did not decrease - it was just that instead of direct contracts with channels, consulting agreements began to be concluded.
According to Rosstat, 20% of Vi belongs to the Cypriot company Med Media Network. In the MF database there is a decision of the sole shareholder of Med Media Network dated December 15, 2010 to acquire 12.5% of Vi shares for $ 20 million. (When this share was increased to 20%, we were unable to clarify.) This sole shareholder of Med Media Network was the offshore IMO, the beneficiary of which is Sergey Roldugin. When IMO opened an account with Gazprombank, Switzerland, Med Media Network was listed as the only subsidiary of the company. Moreover, in the application for opening an account, it was written that Med Media Network must pay almost 270 million rubles in dividends to its parent structure.
Vi did not answer our questions.
["Vedomosti", 04/04/2016, "Millionaire from Music": Judging by the materials of Mossack Fonseca, the company did not have any other assets. It turns out that the Vi group (the current name is Video International) spent 1.34 billion rubles in total on payments to shareholders.
Just in 2010, it was announced that nine co-owners of Vi (among them was the general director of the group Sergei Vasiliev) sold 100% of the seller's shares to the structures of Bank Rossiya, Surgutneftegaz and the owner of Severstal, Alexey Mordashov. Vi has not disclosed the shareholder structure since then. And only in 2014, after the imposition of sanctions against "Russia", a representative of Vi said that the bank itself owns only 16% of the group's shares, but did not name other owners.
Vi was forced to report the size of the bank's package due to numerous requests from the largest advertisers - American and European manufacturers of consumer goods, an employee of the group and employees of large advertising agencies explained to Vedomosti. Advertisers with foreign headquarters feared that, working with a seller controlled by "Russia", they were violating the sanctions.
Vi herself also feared that at any moment she could get into an extended list of sanctions, her employee admitted. In the fall of 2014, four largest Russian media holdings (VGTRK, Gazprom-Media, National Media Group, Channel One) announced the creation of a single seller of TV advertising. A Vi employee and the head of a large media holding explained that one of the main reasons for the emergence of such a single seller is precisely to remove Vi from the risk of sanctions. The organizer of the project was the head of Gazprom-Media Mikhail Lesin, who died in November last year in the United States. After his resignation in early 2015, the project fell apart, but in March of this year, all the same four holdings again announced their intention to create a single seller of TV advertising. A Vi employee says the revival of the project has a lot to do with the desire to get away from the risk of sanctions. And this risk will be even higher when information is published that Roldugin, Kovalchuk's partner and Putin's friend, is the co-owner of Vi, he reasons.
At the same time, the Vi employee assures that Roldugin did not take any part in the management of the group, neither he nor his representatives are included in its board of directors. Moreover, the interlocutor of Vedomosti insists that he first learned about such a person from media publications. The only people Vi deals with as representatives of shareholders are the employees of Bank Rossiya, he said. The heads of other large media companies interviewed by Vedomosti say that they also did not know that Roldugin owned any media assets.
However, last summer Roldugin transferred all 100% of Media Overseas to Belize's Robertson Financial, according to the materials. Who owns this company, "Vedomosti" failed to find out. - Box K.ru]
For many years, a large block of shares in KAMAZ was owned by the Cypriot company Avtoinvest Ltd, which belonged to Troika Dialog. In 2008, according to media reports, Troika's structures even managed to increase their share in the largest truck manufacturer in Russia to almost 51%. This information is indirectly confirmed by documents from the MF database: judging by them, the Troika, with the help of several hidden agreements, could only act as an agent in the interests of much more influential players. One of these players was Sergei Roldugin.
The fact is that since 2007, Troika has transferred all rights to manage its company Avtoinvest Ltd to a certain offshore company Avto Holdings Ltd. Under the agreement, Avto Holdings received the right to participate in Avtoinvest shareholders meetings, appoint and dismiss directors, and collect 95% of dividends. That is, in fact, one of the main shareholders of KAMAZ was subordinate to a previously unknown offshore company. And 15% of this unknown offshore was owned by cellist Sergei Roldugin through his company Sonnette Overseas.
Moreover, Avto Holdings had a ten-year option to buy 100% of Avtoinvest: the offshore company, co-owned by Sergei Roldugin, had the right to gain control over one of the largest shareholders of KAMAZ for only $ 100,000.
There were similar agreements between Troika and offshore companies associated with Roldugin regarding the shares of AVTOVAZ. In these agreements, only the dates, company names, shares and amounts were different. But the meaning remained the same: offshore companies close to Roldugin had privileged rights to manage large stakes in strategic enterprises of the country, to receive dividends and purchase these stakes for ridiculous amounts.
The Kremlin declined to answer questions related to this investigation. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov called a special briefing, where he warned about the impending, in his opinion, "attack on the president." “We received papers from an organization that calls itself an international consortium of investigative journalism, which includes different media and journalists from different countries. We are sure that not only journalists, but also representatives of other organizations and services. They are going in the coming days in Germany, the USA, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Russia and several other countries to publish the next opuses, which we consider to be an obvious "order", - said Peskov.
A person who knows Roldugin confirmed to us the special role of a musician: “To solve operational and sometimes non-public tasks, Vladimir Putin relied on a circle of businessmen, the basis of which were friends from the St. Petersburg period of his life. But many have lost his trust, shall we say, because of his insatiability. The president needed a person who could be trusted without hesitation in order to follow the real state of affairs through his "shares". In addition, Roldugin never took anything, he is not attracted by a luxurious life. In our circle he is called Prince Myshkin. "
Another person from the entourage of the famous Russian cellist, when asked by Novaya Gazeta to describe him in one word, reacted with lightning speed: “Call him a“ keeper ”. It will be for sure. "
[IA "Interfax", 04.04.2016, "Peskov told about the authors of" Panamagate ":" We know this so-called journalistic community well, it is obvious that there are many journalists, whose main profession is hardly journalism: many former representatives and the State Department, and the CIA, other special services, "- said the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov.
According to him, in Moscow they know "and who finances this organization, this is also quite open information, but speaking for itself, I mean from the point of view of the commitment and predictability of the methods of these comrades." - Box K.ru]
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The authors of the investigation found about $ 2 billion in offshore companies registered with Roldugin. Drew Sullivan, co-founder of the Center for Corruption and Organized Crime Investigation (OCCRP) and one of the authors of the investigation, said that with this money he could buy all the cellos in the world.
Vesti claims that Roldugin did not know about his billionaire state until April: “When the so-called Panama Papers were published on April 3, the famous musician learned that he was also a billionaire. Although most of his life, according to him, on the contrary, asked billionaires to support culture and the House of Music. " Sullivan in an interview with "Rain" called the version that Roldugin might not have known about the Panamanian companies, quite probable.
In an interview with Vesti, Roldugin recalls: "I went and begged everyone I could, because the instruments are expensive. A professor who can give the best advice. And I just wanted the best instruments, the best the best halls. All the best for our Russian guys, for musicians. It costs crazy money. And I went and asked. "
Then, according to Vesti, "the patrons offered Sergei Roldugin a small share in the business, so as not to beg, but to have their own money to support the great Russian musical school." Roldugin has a minority stake in the Rossiya bank, which is called the "bank of the president's friends." The largest shareholders are Yuri Kovalchuk and Nikolai Shalamov.
"Vesti" reports that "all the so-called billions" in the Alekseevsky Palace, where the House of Music is located, "are completely intact, and they can be touched." According to RBC, the authorities allocated money for the reconstruction, it took 800 million rubles. The opening ceremony in 2008 was attended by President Vladimir Putin.
Roldugin tells in detail about the instruments he bought for children: "The work of the masters Guarneri, Stradivari. Steinway grand pianos. I want to donate four instruments to the educational children's center in Sochi. Four delightful instruments. Fazioli grand piano. If a specialist hears the above, he will say: yes, indeed, it is big money! Cello Stradivari. Golden period Antonio Stradivari. How many millions of dollars can it cost? Vesti reports that such instruments are sold "once in a hundred years," and the lower price limit exceeds $ 10 million.
“All this is already a Russian property, it’s all already here. Our Russian guys play these instruments,” Roldugin said.
"If we recall other defendants from the offshore lists, the picture is still clear. The British prime minister used his father's offshore company. Poroshenko has his own offshore companies prohibited for the president. The Icelandic prime minister did not pay taxes. Everything is clear. But what has Putin to do with it ?!" - are asked a rhetorical question "Vesti".
And in the final third of Vesti's publications, it tells about how offshore companies help Russia's strategic interests. In 2008, the company "National Telecommunications" with an audience of several tens of millions of viewers for sale on the stock market was taken to an offshore company by businessman Suleiman Kerimov. According to the TV program, "American private equity funds immediately put their eyes on the assets," and the Russian authorities turned to business in order to accumulate about $ 1.5 billion offshore, for which the company was bought out. “It was a stab in the teeth from St. Petersburg,” Vesti reports.