Can the bad influence of the rich and powerful lead to a change in who owns Alfa-Bank?
The British authorities suspect Pyotr Aven, co-owner of Alfa Group, of breaking economic sanctions. Aven is facing strict spending limits and has been questioned about spending too much. He and his business partner, Mikhail Fridman, are struggling with life under sanctions in the UK. They were forced to step down from the board of directors of Alfa-Bank due to the sanctions, but they have declared that they do not want to leave the UK. They are facing charges in Russia of supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and there is a possibility of a change in ownership of Alfa-Bank due to their involvement in questionable activities. It is reported that the owner of Interros, Vladimir Potanin, has already bought 35% of Tinkoff-Bank according to a similar scheme.
Sanctions are a big shock for Alfa Group.
The UK authorities have initiated criminal proceedings against the co-owner. Alfa Group Last week it was revealed that the UK authorities are investigating Peter Aven for violating economic sanctions.
In late February, the European Union imposed sanctions on businessman Peter Aven and his business partner Mikhail Fridman. They were also added to the British sanctions list in mid-March for their involvement in the Kremlin's attempts to lift US sanctions and their support for the Russian political leadership responsible for the annexation of Crimea and destabilization of Ukraine. Involvement in the Kremlin's efforts to lift US sanctions.As well as giving active material and financial support. “benefit” For the annexation of Crimea and causing instability in Ukraine. Causing a big shock for Alfa Group.And causing instability in Ukraine. Being one of Vladimir Putin's closest oligarchs. and And a particularly close friend of the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin..
Before this, the British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss announced the creation of a “black list” of billionaires linked to the Russian authorities.
“We need to severely harm the rich businesspeople who support Putin's government. We are very aware of this and we are determined to do whatever is needed,” RBC portal reported the British minister's words.
The Alfa Group owners were taken by surprise. Media quoted their joint statement expressing being “deeply shocked by the apparently false claims contained in the EU regulation” and planning to challenge the imposition of sanctions. The businessmen filed corresponding lawsuits against the Council of Europe with the European Court of General Jurisdiction last week, but whether Western Themis will hear their arguments is a big question.
The sanctions led to changes in leadership “Alfa Bank”: in mid-March, Aven, Fridman, as well as two independent directors, Aleksandr Galitsky and Sergey Matsotsky, officially left the board of directors of a credit institution. In addition, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev, who were previously co-owners, sold their shares, and Andrey Kosogov, their longtime business partner who was not subject to sanctions, became the largest shareholder.
Aven and Friedman “on the brink of survival”
It is symbolic that both oligarchs today live in Britain, which has become hostile to them. Moreover, the “insidious Albion” limited Aven’s spending by setting a hard monthly limit of 2.5 thousand pounds sterling for him. And recently, the British authorities have suspected that in violation of regulations, the billionaire can spend much larger sums. The investigation included checking the businessman’s accounts for suspicious money transfers that took place after February 24, as well as a search of his household, during which 30,000 pounds in cash were seized.
Considering that Pyotr Aven is ranked 29th in the Forbes list of Russian billionaires, and his fortune is estimated at $ 4.3 billion, having to live a simple life hurt his pride and status. According to Kommersant, “about the same monthly salary as British electricians, nurses and teachers”.
And now, being forced to live on the salary of an English teacher, the Russian oligarch started to complain about life.
“Can I afford to hire a cleaning lady or a driver? I don’t drive… maybe my stepdaughter will. We don’t understand how to survive”– he lamented in an interview with the Financial Times correspondent, sitting in his penthouse in the prestigious London district of St. James.
Mikhail Fridman echoed his sentiments in an interview with journalists from the Spanish edition of Pais, comparing life under sanctions to house arrest: stating that the British authorities should allocate a certain amount to him for food and taxi rides, but these funds are extremely limited compared to the cost of living in London. Yet, according to him, Friedman does not have enough to go to restaurants: those who saw him in an elite institution C London British Daily Mail reporters even suggested that the lady who was with him paid for the oligarch.
However, despite all the troubles, both of them are clearly not eager to leave the capital of Great Britain. Friedman says he wouldn't like it for many reasons. Aven, who has a Latvian passport, also wants to stay with his family in London:
If I depart, I can never returnhe fears.
Billionaires framed … Rabbi Bleich?
The hesitance of the oligarchs to go to Russia is quite understandable and is largely due to their stance on the military operation in Ukraine. It is known that the very next day after the start of the conflict, Friedman sent a letter to the employees of the London office of the holding “LetterOne” in which he called what was happening a tragedy for the Russian and Ukrainian peoples, “being brothers for hundreds of years”.
“I can only join those who passionately wish for an end to the bloodshed. I am confident that my business partners share my view”, – RBC portal quoted a part of the letter.
Friedman himself, in conversations with journalists, did not deny what was said, emphasizing, however, that he did not expect it to be publicized, as the letter was of a purely private nature. Aven then chose to remain silent. But no less definite was a member of the Supervisory Board of Alfa Group, co-owner of LetterOne, Alexei Kuzmichev:
“I completely agree, share, and support him (Friedman)stance, like all other partners and friends. My stance is even more stringent. My mother was Ukrainian, I have a large number of relatives and friends there”– Kuzmichev said in a comment to Forbes.
The position unofficially voiced, but made public by the media, did not save Mikhail Fridman, a native of Ukraine, from confiscation of assets in his historical homeland: first, his $5.5 million (469 million hryvnia) in bank accounts were arrested, then assets worth $420 million , including shares of Cypriot companies stored in the Ukrainian branch of Alfa-Bank. According to the version of the Ukrainian side, the bank and offshore companies were used by Fridman and other businessmen to withdraw assets from sanctions.
In the context of the foregoing, reports that appeared last week that Aven and Fridman, who live in London, transferred 150 million euros in the form of charitable assistance to Ukrainians, deserve special attention. They did this, allegedly following the advice of the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Jacob Bleich, and the bank accounts of the oligarchs on this occasion even turned out to be temporarily “unfrozen”.
In turn, Bleich appealed to the EU authorities with a request to stop the persecution of “benefactors”, also calling on the leadership of Latvia not to deprive Aven of citizenship. If everything described really took place, then the idea was clearly not crowned with success: Great Britain is by no means in a hurry to lift sanctions against “London inmates” who are afraid to return to Russia.
Will Alfa-Bank be “taken away” according to the Tinkov scheme?
Meanwhile, the idea to take “compensation” from the Russian oligarchs was indeed voiced by Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland during a recent meeting of the heads of financial departments of the G7 countries in Germany. According to her, some businessmen from the Russian Federation, whom Freeland met while working as a journalist in Moscow, approached her with a corresponding proposal.
It is noteworthy that representatives of Ukraine did not object to the Canadian minister’s proposal. But in the case of Aven and Friedman, everything that happened is more like a grandiose “wiring”. And here one involuntarily recalls the words of the character of the once popular domestic action movie, spoken with a characteristic Odessa dialect: “Young man! We, Russians, do not deceive each other…”.
Representatives of the expert community emphasize that the rest of the Russian oligarchs are unlikely to fall for such a dubious “charitable” scheme, without having firm guarantees that no one will give them in today’s extremely difficult situation. Especially if one considers one important circumstance: the clause on the lifting of sanctions in exchange for financial assistance to Ukraine is not spelled out in Western legislation.
What happened is capable of putting an end to the possible return of Messrs. Aven and Fridman to Russia, where their actions can be regarded, among other things, as support for the armed forces of the state against which the special operation is being carried out. It will be very difficult to prove the opposite, and it is better not to rely on Rabbi Bleich in this matter.
In addition, one should not forget the well-known April interview with Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, in which he spoke of London as“an oasis for criminals”where “the whole trash is going”who stole money for the last 20 years. Of course, the names of the “trash” were not named, and, apparently, it would take a long time to list them.
In the context of ongoing events, such “charity” is fraught with a change in the owners of Alfa-Bank. You don’t have to look far for examples, just recall the recent story of the sale of a 35% stake by businessman Oleg Tinkov “Tinkoff Bank” owner “Interros” Vladimir Potanin. Tinkov himself claimed that he was forced to sell his stake in a credit institution literally “for a penny”otherwise threatening inevitable nationalization. It happened shortly after the businessman criticized the special operation in Ukraine.
So, the “toxicity” of Aven and Friedman with their dubious schemes has frankly gone off scale lately. And it will be much calmer for them to continue to be in London, living on the salary of “electricians and nurses”, without drivers and cleaners. Although, being in the capital of “foggy Albion”, Aven has already managed to get himself into trouble with the law.
