Putin oligarch at Tegernsee: Usmanow probably disguises his fortune with shell companies
Created: 08/16/2022, 18:41
The super-rich Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who owns a house on Lake Tegernsee, refuses to cooperate with the EU and conceals his assets.
Rottach-Egern – At the end of February, immediately after Putin's war of aggression in Ukraine began, Russian oligarchs were put on EU sanctions lists.
Since then, they have been legally obliged to disclose their assets in Europe.
But none of these billionaires stick to it, not even Alisher Usmanow, the real estate king of Tegernsee.
Rottach-Egern: Oligarch Usmanow is silent about assets
Sanctioned people like Usmanow (68) would have to disclose their assets.
This was decided by the Bundestag in May with a law to improve the enforcement of sanctions.
But the law is like a toothless tiger.
Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 by Putin's troops and the first EU sanctions, the oligarchs have smelled the rat and have been hiding their wealth behind complex, cross-border networks of shell companies.
This obfuscation makes it nearly impossible for national authorities to identify the owners behind assets.
A prime example is Usmanov.
Best friends?
Oligarch Alisher Usmanov (right) is said to be closely associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin - here a picture from 2018.
© AFP
In 2011, British informants acquired the former SS villa in Rottach-Egern for him.
According to the land registry, it is an offshore company in the Isle of Man tax haven.
“Beneficial owner” in Fischerstrasse is Alisher Usmanow, identified as having a Moscow address.
Another three properties followed in a similar pattern.
Their estimated total value: well over 50 million euros.
The renovations and new buildings on the Schorn alone consumed enormous sums of money.
The Kreissparkasse Miesbach-Tegernsee also noticed this.
Is Germany fighting too little against money laundering?
After millions were shifted back and forth via tax havens in the Usmanov case, she sent a suspected money laundering report to the responsible "Financial Intelligence Unit" (FIU) in Cologne.
What caused this warning message cannot be determined, the financial institution explains years later.
It had nothing more to do with it.
The case seems symptomatic, because perception and reality diverge when it comes to combating money laundering in Germany.
The international anti-money laundering organization Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently stated that Germany is doing far too little to combat money laundering.
Instead of fighting criminal flows of money, German officials are fighting a shortage of staff and unclear responsibilities.
According to the FATF, authorities often do not pass on information.
Above all, information on the beneficial owners of assets was missing.
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Usmanov's sisters are also on the EU sanctions list
According to information from the federal government, German banks had frozen only 95 million in oligarch assets by the end of March.
Usmanov's yacht Dilbar alone, which is chained up in Hamburg, is worth 550 million euros.
But the luxury liner now belongs to Usmanow's sister Gulbahor Ismailowa (56), who is also on the sanctions list.
Like Usmanov's other sister, Soadat Narzieva (56).
According to the EU, she is associated with "27 bank accounts of her brother Alisher in Switzerland with hundreds of millions of dollars", as well as with six of his offshore companies.
"Effective real estate management" is what Usmanov's press spokesman calls the transfers.
The industrial tycoon and sixth-richest Russian, a native of Uzbek, was entrusted by Putin as "a particularly favored oligarch with the management of financial flows," according to the EU.
You probably only entrust it to someone who is a professional in this field.
Oligarch Alischer Usmanow: He is said to own several villas on Lake Tegernsee.
A yacht also belongs to the Putin friend.
© Westend61/Yuri Kochetkov/IMAGO/dpa (archive images/montage)
Putin oligarch divided wealth between family and management
Early on, "before the anti-Russian sanctions, Usmanov divided his fortune between his family and the management of his company," his press spokesman explained when asked.
But a family member is now missing, as Usmanow's mouthpiece Grigory Levchenke explains.
"Usmanov divorced his wife Irina Winer-Usmanowa last year." Levchenko did not give any reasons.
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BY KLAUS WIENDL
