For cello and orchestra

The New Times asked experts to explain how various offshore composition tools work

The publication of a dossier on offshore parties of a close friend of the Russian President Sergei Roldugin became the main event of the month, if not the year. It turned out that the modest cellist, winner of the bronze medal at the Prague Spring competition (1980) and short-lived rector of the St. Petersburg Conservatory (2002–2004), until the summer of 2015, also owned several offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and Panama. through which, according to data released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ, Washington, USA) and the Center for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption (OCCRP, Europe), plus or minus $2 billion passed. Moreover, the state bank VTB through the Cypriot subsidiary of RCB opened a line of credit for hundreds of millions of dollars for one of Roldugin’s companies, as they say, on parole - without any collateral, large Russian businessmen lent tens of millions of dollars at a ridiculous 2%, and then completely forgave the debts, while others transferred the rights of claim on debt of 4 billion rubles. for $1 or ordered consulting services for $30 million.

On September 27, 2016, Sergei Roldugin will perform with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in the Great Hall of the Conservatory. Hurry up to buy tickets

The reaction of the world media was almost unanimous: the musician, although he is a minority shareholder of Rossiya Bank and the brother of Evgeny Roldugin, with whom Putin studied at the Red Banner Institute of Intelligence, is himself far from the world of purity and acts as the custodian of the money of a friend of his youth, who has been with him for 16 years leads Russia. True, Clifford Gaddy, a researcher at the Brookings Institution in Washington and co-author of the book (with Fiona Hill) Mr. Putin. Operative in Kremlin*, on April 8, in his commentary, proposed a different conspiracy theory. Namely: for some reason, there are absolutely no Americans in the documents that leaked from the Panama offshore hub. This means that someone had the opportunity to manipulate the data (for example, seize part of the files), and this someone may be none other than... Vladimir Putin, who thus gains control over the American owners of offshore companies. We must give Geddy his due: he undertook to compete with the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov for those who are ready to stock up on popcorn and sit in the front row in anticipation of the next episodes of the thriller called “The Panama Files.” However, Putin himself proposed a different version, namely, that Mr. musician was a little involved in business, and with his earnings he bought ancient instruments, which he distributed to colleagues in Russia (more about the reaction to the release of the “Panama Files” - on page 46). NT asked a variety of experts to comment on the activities of offshore companies that allegedly belonged to cellist Roldugin: among those who agreed to answer NT’s questions were bankers, financial consultants, and international finance specialists. The vast majority of interlocutors spoke on condition of anonymity; those who wished to be identified are listed at the beginning of their texts.

Vladimir Putin thus gains control over American offshore companies

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* The Brookings Institution. Washington, D.C.: 2013

photo: shutterstock, meloman.ru