'Putin is corrupt' says US Treasury
The US Treasury has
told a BBC investigation that it considers Russian President Vladimir Putin to
be corrupt.
The US government has
already imposed sanctions on Mr Putin's aides, but it is thought to be the
first time it has directly accused him of corruption.
His spokesman told the
BBC that "none of these questions or issues needs to be answered, as they
are pure fiction".
Last week a UK public
inquiry said Mr Putin had "probably" approved the murder of ex-spy
Alexander Litvinenko.
Secret wealth
Litvinenko, a former
Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agent and fierce critic of Mr Putin, was
poisoned in London with radioactive polonium in 2006.
Adam Szubin, who
oversees US Treasury sanctions, has told BBC Panorama that the Russian
president is corrupt and that the US government has known this for "many,
many years".
He said: "We've
seen him enriching his friends, his close allies, and marginalising those who
he doesn't view as friends using state assets. Whether that's Russia's energy
wealth, 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."
The US government
imposed sanctions against a number of Kremlin insiders in 2014 and stated that
Vladimir Putin had secret investments in the energy sector. However, the
Americans did not directly accuse him of corruption at the time.
The sanctions - later
expanded to include more individuals and organisations - coincided with similar
EU measures against Russia. The trigger for them was Russia's annexation of
Crimea, during political turmoil in Ukraine.
Image captionThe
US Treasury's Adam Szubin speaks of a "picture of corruption"
US government
officials have been reluctant to be interviewed about President Putin's wealth,
but Mr Szubin agreed to take part in a BBC Panorama programme investigating the
issue.
Mr Szubin would not
comment on a secret CIA report from 2007 that put Mr Putin's wealth at around
$40bn (£28bn). But he said the Russian president had been amassing secret
wealth.
"He supposedly
draws a state salary of something like $110,000 a year. 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."
The Kremlin denies
such allegations. In 2008, President Putin personally addressed claims that he
was the richest man in Europe, saying: "It's simply rubbish. They just
picked all of it out of someone's nose and smeared it across their little
papers."
Offshore company
But Panorama has
spoken to former Russian insiders who say they have first-hand knowledge of
Vladimir Putin's secret riches.
Dmitry Skarga, who
used to run the state shipping company Sovcomflot, says he oversaw the transfer
of a $35m yacht to Mr Putin. Mr Skarga says the 57m-long Olympia was a gift
from Britain's most famous Russian - the Chelsea football club owner Roman
Abramovich.lin says the allegations against President Putin are "pure
fiction"
"It's a fact that
Mr Abramovich, through his employee, transferred a yacht to Mr Putin," he
said. "I was on board of this yacht at the end of March 2002, in
Amsterdam. And there was a representative of Mr Abramovich… He said that Roman
is the owner of this yacht."
Mr Skarga says the
Olympia was then given to the Russian president via an offshore company. He
then oversaw the management of the yacht for Vladimir Putin and prepared
reports on the boat's running costs.
He said: "This
yacht was maintained and paid for running costs from the state budget."
Mr Skarga says the
yacht was kept secret because it belonged personally to Vladimir Putin, rather
than the state.
Panorama asked Mr
Abramovich about the yacht. His lawyers dismissed claims about him as
speculation and rumour.
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