Who is Igor Putin? The Russian Banks and Putins Cousin The Laundromat -- the biggest money-laundering operation yet uncovered in post-Soviet territory—was unusually well connected. Some of the banks involved were linked to a relative of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a former Kremlin official. Moldovan authorities say that in the past three years about US$ 20 billion was illegally moved out of Russia into the European Union. The money-laundering scheme involved 19 Russian banks, a bank in Moldova and a bank in Latvia. Using fake loans and contracts, money was sent from Russia to Moldova and then into Latvia. They system relied on Moldovan judges to legitimize the transfers. Moldovan investigators are looking at the role of the judges in the scheme. Ruslan Milchenko knows all about how the system work. A fomer member of the Russian police, today he heads the anti-corruption agency Analitika and Bezopasnost (Analyses and Security). He said banks knowingly engage in this uniquely Russian banking service. “Imagine that you have US$ 100 and its origin is doubtful. You just go to such a banker and tell him that you need this money somewhere in Hong Kong. If you don’t have a company or a bank account there, the banker will sell you one. … In a couple of days you receive 96 or 97 dollars, depending on the commission (charged) in Hong Kong, or any other place in the world. And you as the client will not know the route of your money – that is the money launderer’s job.” (see complete interview with Milchenko) It is not clear what was known by the banks involved. Currently there is no investigation in Russia involving the banks used in the Laundromat system. Every year billions of dollars in organized crime money and funds stolen from the state leave Russia. In just the first quarter of 2014, more than US$ 64 billion has left the country. Who is Igor Putin? The Russian Land Bank (RZB in Russian) was a major player in the huge fraud. A Moldovan law enforcement report obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) indicates that the Moscow bank wired 152.5 billion rubles, about US$ 5 billion, to the Moldovan bank, Moldindconbank, between 2012 and 2014. Moldovan investigators say Moldinconbank received most of the wires from Russian banks and then routed the money through the Latvian-based Trasta Komercbanka and into Europe. Until 2011, RZB belonged to Elena Baturina, the wife of the politically powerful former mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov. Luzhkov ran afoul of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2010 and was ousted. The next year, a new set of shareholders, led by Alexander Grigoriev, a 43-year-old St. Petersburg businessman, replaced Baturina. Soon after the change of board and shareholders, the Russian bank opened correspondent accounts in Moldindconbank and, Moldovan authorities say, began suspicious transactions between RZB and Moldindconbank. The new shareholders were six Cyprus companies. One of them – Boaden Ltd, which controlled 16.35 percent of RZB – was owned by Grigoriev who became the head of the executive board. Please read the full report at: https://reportingproject.net/the-russian-laundromat/the-russian-banks-and-putins-cousin.php
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 21:20:11 +0000
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