Spain Charges Russian Government Officials with Assisting Mafia

[Toro]

It's what we've come to expect in the Kleptocracy of Putin's Russia.

Some of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, including the chairman of OAO Gazprom, a deputy premier and two former ministers, helped one of Russia’s largest criminal groups operate out of Spain for more than a decade, prosecutors in Madrid say.

Members of St. Petersburg’s Tambov crime syndicate moved into Spain in 1996, when Putin was deputy mayor of the former czarist capital, to launder proceeds from their illicit activities, Juan Carrau and Jose Grinda wrote in a petition to the Central Court on May 29, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News.

The 488-page complaint, the product of a decade of investigations into the spread of Russian organized crime during the Putin era, portrays links between the criminal enterprise and top law-enforcement officials and policy makers in Moscow. The petition, based on thousands of wiretaps, bank transfers and property transactions, is a formal request to charge 27 people with money laundering, fraud and other crimes. Approval by a judge would clear the way for a trial, but Spain doesn’t try people in absentia.

The only Russian official facing possible charges is Vladislav Reznik, a member of Putin’s ruling United Russia party and the deputy head of the finance committee in the lower house of parliament. The complaint, earlier reported by Spain’s El Mundo and ABC newspapers, says Reznik helped the alleged leader of the enterprise, Gennady Petrov, get his associates appointed to key posts in Russia in exchange for assets in Spain. Prosecutors are seeking to confiscate a property they say Reznik owns on the resort island of Majorca.

‘Clear Penetration’
“The criminal organization headed by Petrov managed to achieve a clear penetration of the state structures in his country, not only with the lawmaker Reznik but with several ministers,” the prosecutors say in the petition.

Putin himself is mentioned by name three times in the document, including in a partial transcript of a call between two alleged Tambov operatives in 2007. The men are discussing an issue with a hotel in the Alicante region and one refers to a house that he says Putin owns in nearby Torrevieja. ...​

Putin Allies Aided Russian Mafia in Spain Prosecutors Say - Bloomberg Business

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - dem Roosians is all mobbed up...

Spanish Warrants Point to Russian Govt. Links to Organized Crime
May 04, 2016 — Spanish authorities this week issued arrest warrants for several Russians, some of them reputedly close associates of President Vladimir Putin, who are suspected of close ties to organized crime. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo quoted Judge Jose de la Mata of Spain's National Court as saying there is “very strong evidence” against each suspect.

Spanish prosecutors claim that the suspects were involved in a wide range of criminal activities, including murder, illegal arms trafficking, extortion, fraud, abuse of office, bribery, smuggling and drug trafficking. One of the biggest names on the list of suspects is Vladislav Reznik, a top official of the ruling United Russia party who previously headed the committee on credit institutions and financial institutions of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament. According to Spanish court documents, Reznik is associated with Russian crime boss Gennady Petrov and fulfills various tasks on Petrov’s behalf, "both legal and illegal."

Former Russian defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov (R) is seen getting into a car in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 6, 2013. Spanish prosecutors suspect Serdyukov of having ties to the criminal underworld.​

Petrov was among a group of alleged Russian organized-crime figures who set up shop in Spain in the mid-1990s. He fled to Russia after police raided his villa on the Spanish island of Majorca in 2008. Another prominent name on the list of suspects is Nikolai Aulov, deputy head of Russia’s Federal Narcotics Control Service. According to the Spanish prosecutors, the mafia used him to gain influence in Russia’s highest administrative circles. A warrant was also issued for Leonid Khristoforov, who allegedly acted as a liaison for Aulov.

Another Spanish arrest warrant was for Igor Sobolevsky, former deputy head of the Investigative Committee, a Russian state agency analogous to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Spanish prosecutors say Sobolevsky “maintained contacts and exchanged services with Petrov,” passing secret information to him. In the words of Judge de la Mata, Sobolevsky kept Petrov informed about “the actions of the security services against organized crime.” In a petition made to Spain’s Central Court in May 2015, Spanish prosecutors accused other former top Russian officials of having links to Petrov, including former defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, former regional development minister Dmitry Kozak and former communications minister Leonid Reiman.

Moscow uncharacteristically silent

 

[Sbiker]

Granny says, "Dat's right - dem Roosians is all mobbed up...

Spanish Warrants Point to Russian Govt. Links to Organized Crime
May 04, 2016 — Spanish authorities this week issued arrest warrants for several Russians, some of them reputedly close associates of President Vladimir Putin, who are suspected of close ties to organized crime. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo quoted Judge Jose de la Mata of Spain's National Court as saying there is “very strong evidence” against each suspect.

Spanish prosecutors claim that the suspects were involved in a wide range of criminal activities, including murder, illegal arms trafficking, extortion, fraud, abuse of office, bribery, smuggling and drug trafficking. One of the biggest names on the list of suspects is Vladislav Reznik, a top official of the ruling United Russia party who previously headed the committee on credit institutions and financial institutions of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament. According to Spanish court documents, Reznik is associated with Russian crime boss Gennady Petrov and fulfills various tasks on Petrov’s behalf, "both legal and illegal."

Former Russian defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov (R) is seen getting into a car in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 6, 2013. Spanish prosecutors suspect Serdyukov of having ties to the criminal underworld.​

Petrov was among a group of alleged Russian organized-crime figures who set up shop in Spain in the mid-1990s. He fled to Russia after police raided his villa on the Spanish island of Majorca in 2008. Another prominent name on the list of suspects is Nikolai Aulov, deputy head of Russia’s Federal Narcotics Control Service. According to the Spanish prosecutors, the mafia used him to gain influence in Russia’s highest administrative circles. A warrant was also issued for Leonid Khristoforov, who allegedly acted as a liaison for Aulov.

Another Spanish arrest warrant was for Igor Sobolevsky, former deputy head of the Investigative Committee, a Russian state agency analogous to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Spanish prosecutors say Sobolevsky “maintained contacts and exchanged services with Petrov,” passing secret information to him. In the words of Judge de la Mata, Sobolevsky kept Petrov informed about “the actions of the security services against organized crime.” In a petition made to Spain’s Central Court in May 2015, Spanish prosecutors accused other former top Russian officials of having links to Petrov, including former defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, former regional development minister Dmitry Kozak and former communications minister Leonid Reiman.

Moscow uncharacteristically silent

This Serdyukov is hated man here, but with such attention to him from western yellow press, I'm starting to suspect, he's not so bad, as we think

As for all others - it's just an ordinary faces of most of all russian 'politicians', who betrayed ideals of USSR...