The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation on July 1 against the property acquired in France by Russian oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin, AFP learned on Monday from a source familiar with the matter, confirming information from the Parisian.
Complaint for money laundering and no justification of resources
This investigation was entrusted to the Central Office for the Repression of Serious Financial Crimes (OCRGDF). It comes after the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International (TIF) filed a complaint at the end of May in Paris for particular acts of “laundering” aimed at possible illicit profits in France by “businessmen and senior officials close to Vladimir Cheese fries” . “.
The complaint against X of the NGO has as its objective, in addition to money laundering, the non-justification of resources, thus explaining the TIF “denounce the system of appropriation of the Russian State and of national wealth by” relatives of Vladimir Putin.
According to the NGO, which does not give the names of the target persons to “avoid retaliation”, the developed system “extends its ramifications to France, in the real estate sector in particular, due to the lack of vigilance of the intermediaries”.
Risks of “broad seizure measures”
Thanks to various sources, “we were able to compile an inventory of the real estate assets in France of various oligarchs and close associates of the Russian regime, identify the chains of properties created for this purpose and gather a set of evidence on the resources of illicit origin that allowed the acquisition of this heritage,” said Patrick Lefas, president of TIF.
“The judicial chapter of the BMA (ill-gotten gains, editor’s note) of the Russian oligarchs will be opened (…). The freezing measures (of assets, editor’s note) intervened” after the war in Ukraine “will be in some cases it will be a factor in speeding up the investigation and will allow for extensive seizure measures and, in the event of a criminal conviction, forfeiture,” argued Maître William Bourdon, attorney for TIF.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the international community has compiled a list of names of Russian oligarchs whose assets have been frozen.
In France, several properties (villas, farms, apartments) have been identified, on the Côte d’Azur, in the Rhône-Alpes region, in Paris but also in the South West.
Source: BFM TV
