“Panama Dossier”: former head of Russian Railways Yakunin could be involved in offshore schemes

Vladimir Yakunin Photo: kremlin.ru

Vladimir Yakunin, who led Russian Railways for a decade, could be involved in offshore schemes. This conclusion was reached by the authors of an investigation conducted by journalists from Novaya Gazeta and the Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime (OCCRP) based on the so-called “Panama Papers”.

As previously wrote ForumDailyThe OCCRP investigation is based on leaking more than 11 millions of confidential documents from the database of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The data of the project, called Panama Papers, continues to be published in the press in different countries.

As Novaya Gazeta writes, the son of Yakunin’s close associate Alexei Krapivin built a business empire on contracts received from Russian Railways. Under her control are hundreds of billions of state money allocated for Russian railways.

Documents from the Mossack Fonseca database indicate that Alexey Krapivin controls the largest contractor of the most expensive and large-scale construction project of our time - the reconstruction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM). Companies close to Krapivin are also involved in transactions related to a major partner of Russian Railways, a global player in the transport market - Bombardier Transportation.

The Krapivins' family reportedly preferred to participate in Russian Railways tenders through technical companies, and to own large assets in Russia through offshores. The documents show Alexey Krapivin’s connection with at least 11 companies from Panama, the British Virgin Islands, and the USA.

However, it is unclear what kind of activities are carried out by companies registered in the US state of Delaware. One of these five companies is called Sochi Waterfront Investments, using the name of the city of Sochi, the Olympic capital 2014, of the year.

Most offshore companies Krapivin uses as a source to finance various projects, including the acquisition of assets in Russia.

Infographics: “Novaya Gazeta”

“Such activity is generally typical for offshore companies involved in money laundering. They use multiple accounts to make it more difficult for law enforcement to trace the movement of funds,” says Daniel Reeves, who spent 35 years at the US Internal Revenue Service investigating cases involving offshore companies, tax crimes and money laundering.

Since 2014, Alexey Krapivin’s structures have owned a controlling stake in the large Russian construction company Bamstroymekhanizatsiya, one of the main contractors of Vladimir Yakunin’s “construction of the century” - the reconstruction of the BAM. The authors of the investigation, who discovered a connection with the Virgin Islands, called the Baikal-Virgin highway.

The plan for the largest construction project of Russian Railways was approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013. The total cost of construction is 562 billion rubles, and if we add to this additional work on the reconstruction of the Eastern Polygon, more than 1 trillion rubles of expenditures are released. Almost all the money comes from the budget.

Krapivin’s participation in the construction of the BAM could be even larger-scale. Two more structures (Energomontazh and Transtroymontazh), owned by Cypriot companies, received contracts. At different times, Krapivin acted as the ultimate owner of almost each of them.

Alexey Krapivin reportedly refused to answer questions from Novaya Gazeta.

67-year-old Vladimir Yakunin, who is often called a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in August 2015 left the post of president of Russian Railways. According to Putin’s explanation, it was the choice of Yakunin himself.

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