A judicial investigation targeting the property acquired in France by Russian oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin was opened on July 1, we learned on Monday from a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from the French newspaper. The Parisian.
The investigation was opened by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), a specialized institution that targets the most complex criminal investigations in the field of economic and financial crime. It was entrusted to the Central Office for the Suppression of Serious Financial Crime (OCRGDF), according to the same source.
It comes after the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International (TIF) filed a complaint at the end of May in Paris for in particular acts of “laundering” targeting possible ill-gotten gains in France by ” businessmen and senior officials close to Vladimir Putin “.
The complaint against X of the NGO aims, in addition to money laundering, the non-justification of resources, Transparency International thus explaining ” denounce the system of capture of the Russian state and national wealth by » relatives of Vladimir Putin.
“Intermediaries, nominees, front companies”
According to the NGO, which does not give the names of the people targeted to “avoid reprisals”, the system developed “ extends its ramifications to France, in the real estate sector in particular, due to a lack of vigilance from intermediaries “. ” The ambition of the sanctions measures against Russia and the first freezing announcements come up against the difficulties of identifying the assets of the persons sanctioned. In France, as elsewhere, the pursuit of the assets of the oligarchs and those close to the Russian regime is stalling “, explained Transparency International in a press release, emphasizing the ” intermediaries, nominees, shell companies or trusts in tax or judicial havens “.
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Through various sources, we were able to draw up an inventory of the real estate in France of several oligarchs and those close to the Russian regime, identify the chains of properties set up for this purpose, and bring together a range of clues on the illicit origin of the resources that allowed the acquisition of this heritage said Patrick Lefas, President of Transparency International.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the international community has compiled a list of names of Russian oligarchs whose assets have been frozen. In France, several properties (villas, estates, apartments) have been identified, on the Côte d’Azur, in the Rhône-Alpes region, in Paris, but also in the South-West.
(With AFP)