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Russian billionaire Kerimov case: justice charges Swiss holding company

2020-05-13T21:09:12.537Z



French justice announced on Wednesday a financial agreement, accompanied by a fine, with a Swiss company prosecuted for having under-declared the purchase of villas at Cap d'Antibes on behalf of the Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov. Swiru Holding AG, which had hosted the purchase of a first villa in 2008 from the Borghetti family, was indicted for complicity in tax fraud on November 14, 2019.

Read also: Kerimov's large-scale laundering

On the same day, the oligarch, indicted for complicity in tax evasion aggravated in March 2019, was meanwhile placed under the status of assisted witness for this count, a procedure which corresponds to a “de-indictment”, a said Nice prosecutor Xavier Bonhomme to AFP, who also added that "the investigation continues".

Swiru Holding AG has "agreed to pay a public interest fine totaling 1.4 million euros," said the Nice prosecutor's office in a statement. It has also already returned through a subsidiary more than 10.3 million euros to the French tax authorities "in respect of tax evaded", according to the prosecution.

"The fault recognized by the holding company relates to the undervaluation of the sale price," according to a source familiar with the matter.

“The investigations revealed the concealment of part of the sale price of the said villa, through the interposition of companies domiciled in particular abroad, including the public limited company under Swiss law Swiru Holding AG. The operating mode thus enabled the various parties to the sales contract to voluntarily conceal part of the sums subject to tax, ”detailed the prosecution.

The public interest agreement concluded with Swiru Holding AG "will be published on the website of the French Anticorruption Agency at the end of a period of ten days" unless the company withdraws, added the prosecution.

The business had started in 2014 on a banal hideout of the narcotics brigade. Suspicious cash movements were spotted and the trail went up to the Russian oligarch. The 2008 purchase of the villa “Yesterday” for 35 million euros - an underreported amount compared to the price of 127 million actually paid according to the investigators - had not attracted attention.

Notary, real estate agent, lawyer, administrator: many local actors had been indicted in this case, and some are still today.

In November 2017, the Russian senator's arrest on his descent from a plane in Nice had been strongly criticized by Moscow. For a time, he had been placed under house arrest in Nice. His lawyers had managed to cancel the first indictment before the justice relaunched the case in March 2019.

With a heritage estimated at more than $ 16 billion by the last Forbes 2020 ranking, Mr. Kerimov, originally from Dagestan, is one of the richest men in Russia.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-05-13

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