The presidential allowance is EUR 100,000 per year, but according to the US Treasury, the Russian president is the head of a system of corruption worth a fortune. For some he’s even the richest man in the world.
Let’s start from the end. In an interview broadcasted Monday nightby the BBC, the US Treasury acting undersecretaryAdam Szubin said outright that Vladimir Putin is corrupt. It is the first time that a US senior official publicly confirms what is long time rumored. “We’ve seen him enriching his friends, his close allies, and marginalizing those who he doesn’t view as friends using state assets. Whether that’s Russia’s energy wealth,” said Szubin speaking at BBC’s Panorama. “Whether it’s other state contracts, he directs those to whom he believes will serve him and excludes those who don’t. To me, that is a picture of corruption. And the American government has known this for many, many years. “
The richest man in the world
The American suspects on the fortune made by Putin in the years date back to 2007, when he was at the end of his second term. Several confidential cables published by Wikileaks refer to offshore companies and accounts owned by the president. According to a secret CIA report of the same year, the assets of Putin is more than EUR 40 bn. That would make him the richest man in Europe. “He supposedly draws a state salary of something like $110,000 a year,” says Szubin. “That is not an accurate statement of the man’s wealth, and he has long time training and practices in terms of how to mask his actual wealth.”
According to Stanislav Belkovsky, a political analyst and journalist, Putin controls stakes in the major oil and gas companies of the country, through offshore companies. According to Belkovsky the only equity assets is worth USD 40 bn, not counting other assets and accounts abroad. “I’m sure it’s the richest man in Europe and one of the richest in the world,” he said in an interview with the BBC.
But the treasure of Putin could be even bigger. Bill Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, formerly Russia’s largest foreign investor, and a once supporter of President Putin, makes a figure. “I believe that it’s USD 200 billion,” Browder said in an interview with CNN. To give an idea, Bill Gates, the richest man in the world above board, is worth $ 79 billion.
Crossfire
“After 14 years in power of Russia, and the amount of money that the country has made, and the amount of money that hasn’t been spent on schools and roads and hospitals and so on, all that money is in property, bank – Swiss bank accounts, shares, hedge funds, managed for Putin and his cronies, ” Browder added. “During the first eight or 10 years of Putin’s reign over Russia, it was about stealing as much money as he could. And some people, including myself, believe that he’s the richest man in the world, with hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth that was stolen from Russia. “
Browder has lived ten years in Russia, doing business with state companies, before realizing that the oligarchs were fishing with both hands, beingarrested and expelled from the country. “Suddenly I realized that Putin wasn’t above it all, Putin was intimately involved in it all, and it wasn’t like he was restraining the oligarchs – he was the biggest oligarch.”
The accusation of corruption comes just a week after British report saying Putin “probably” authorized the killing of Litvinenko. Some have seen in this timing more than coincidence, and there is no doubt that Putin is under crossfire from the US and UK. Who like shooting fish in a barrel.
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Let’s start from the end. In an interview broadcasted Monday nightby the BBC, the US Treasury acting undersecretaryAdam Szubin said outright that Vladimir Putin is corrupt. It is the first time that a US senior official publicly confirms what is long time rumored. “We’ve seen him enriching his friends, his close allies, and marginalizing those who he doesn’t view as friends using state assets. Whether that’s Russia’s energy wealth,” said Szubin speaking at BBC’s Panorama. “Whether it’s other state contracts, he directs those to whom he believes will serve him and excludes those who don’t. To me, that is a picture of corruption. And the American government has known this for many, many years. “
The American suspects on the fortune made by Putin in the years date back to 2007, when he was at the end of his second term. Several confidential cables published by Wikileaks refer to offshore companies and accounts owned by the president. According to a secret CIA report of the same year, the assets of Putin is more than EUR 40 bn. That would make him the richest man in Europe. “He supposedly draws a state salary of something like $110,000 a year,” says Szubin. “That is not an accurate statement of the man’s wealth, and he has long time training and practices in terms of how to mask his actual wealth.”
