Panama Papers: Vladimir Putin denies Mossack Fonseca links calling leak a US-led attack
Callum Paton
Cellist Sergei Roldugin (left) has been a friend of Vladimir Putin's for decades
Reuters
The Russian President
Vladimir Putin has lashed out at allegations he is tied to a $2bn
(£1.4bn) offshore fortune, calling a massive leak from the Panamanian
law firm Mossack Fonseca an effort to weaken the Russian State.
Putin, like dozens of world leaders, has been implicated in the so-called Panama Papers leak, the disclosure of more than 40 years' worth of documents detailing payments and transactions into shell companies in offshore tax havens.
Leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca reveal how one of Putin's childhood friends, cellist and businessman Sergei Roldugin,
reportedly controlled, directly or indirectly, a group of companies
that would make transactions with large state-owned Russian companies.
The companies would apparently take donations from Russian
businessmen or make loans from the Cyprus-based RCB Bank, which has a
large stake controlled by the Russian state-owned VTB Bank.
Speaking in St Petersburg on 7 April, Putin, said even
though his name did not figure in any of the documents leaked from a
Panamanian law firm, Western media pushed the claims of his involvement
in offshore businesses.
Panama Papers: The 11.5m document leak explained
IBTimes UK
The Press Association reported the Russia leader
described the allegations as part of the US-led disinformation campaign
waged against Russia in order to weaken its government.
Putin addressed the issue of his involvement with Roldugin.
He said the musician's holding of such vast offshore sums was not an
indication of any wrongdoing. He said he was proud of his friend, adding
that the musician spent his personal money to advance cultural projects
in Russia.
"Our opponents are above all concerned by the unity and
consolidation of the Russian nation. They are attempting to rock us from
within, to make us more pliant," said Putin, according to Reuters, in
his first public comments on the leaks.
"There is a certain friend of the president of Russia, he
did such and such a thing, and there is probably a corruption element
there," Putin said, describing the allegations.
has denied any wrongdoing. "We are a company who after almost 40 years
has never been formally accused of anything. We are dedicated to doing
legal structures which we then sell to intermediaries like banks or
lawyers or accountants and they manage it from there and we do not have
any control over that. We are not responsible for how they manage those
structures however they may want to do them," the firm said in a
statement.
Panama Papers: Vladimir Putin denies Mossack Fonseca links calling leak a US-led attack
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