Russian oligarch charged in France with tax fraud

EU-sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexei Kuzmichev, an associate of Vladimir Putin, has been charged with tax fraud in France, the country's financial prosecutor said.

Published: 2 November 2023 08:46 CET

Russian oligarch charged in France with tax fraud

"La Petite Ourse" yacht, belonging to Russian oligarch Alexei Kuzmichev, which was seized. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP)

Kuzmichev was “placed under judicial supervision” and banned from leaving the country, according to French national financial prosecutor’s office Parquet National Financier (PNF).

He also faces charges of concealing work with an organised crime group and on a presumption of money laundering, the PNF said.

Kuzmichev was obliged to pay a bond of €8million. His lawyer refused to comment.

French authorities have launched investigations into several Russian oligarchs with ties to Putin, notably over suspicions of money laundering and
tax fraud linked to their real estate wealth in the country.

Kuzmichev, 61, was arrested in the French Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez, a source who asked not to be named told AFP on Monday.

Police carried out raids on several locations linked to the tycoon including his Paris home and his Saint-Tropez villa, where cash and jewellery were seized, they said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday said the Russian authorities would “help protect his rights” if Kuzmichev wished.

Russian influence

Kuzmichev’s real estate wealth and undeclared income are among the accusations levelled against him, according to a source close to the case.

In 2012, he bought a large Paris property for €28 million that was once the headquarters of French wine and spirits producer Pernod-Ricard.

Kuzmichev is one of the co-founders of the Alfa Group and is targeted by EU sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

According to the EU, Alfa Bank – in which Kuzmichev holds a large stake – is one of Russia’s biggest taxpayers and the businessman himself is among “the
most influential people in Russia” with close links to Putin.

Putin’s elder daughter Maria directed a charity project financed by Alfa Bank, the European Union said.

Two yachts worth more than five million euros owned by Kuzmichev were seized by the authorities in March 2022 as a result of the EU sanctions, a
source told AFP at the time.

In late 2022, Kuzmichev managed to have legal action by the customs authorities cancelled, but the decision had no impact on the freezing of his
boats.

The Russian billionaire, who claims to have family ties in France, launched an appeal to get the EU sanctions against him lifted, a second source close to
the case said. A decision is expected on November 15.

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The French Jewish community, the third largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials.

“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Police responded at 6.45 am to reports of “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said.

A source close to the case told AFP the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X.

He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker.

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Such an investigation by France’s police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor.

The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7th attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Red hand graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.

“Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). wrote on X.

France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France’s security alert remains at its highest level.