Translated material
Rotenberg notice traces
The Russian businessman Arkady Rotenberg, whose condition is estimated at a billion dollars, created in Eastern Europe the emissaries network from among former leaders and top managers of his companies. With their help, he effectively circumvents the sanctions imposed against him by the United States and the European Union after the annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of war in the east of Ukraine.
The first part of the new investigation of such a scheme for departure from sanctions was published on Monday on the Municipal Scanner website, which at the end of January spoke about real estate from the former USSR in Karlovy Vary (read more about this here ). Following the Karlovy Vara, the scanner experts began to be studied by real estate owners in Prague and accidentally found a house in the historical center of the city, actually belonging to Dmitry Kalantyrsky , the former chairman of the board of one of the main assets of Rotenberg, SMP Bank. Kalanttyrsky left this post and sold his 11% of the bank’s shares in February 2015 - as the authors of the investigation believe, the true goal of Kalantyrsky departure was the maximum distance from Arkady Rotenberg in case of possible new cases of sanctions against the latter. Nevertheless, the connection of Kalantyr and Rotenberg, the investigation says, is still traced through a number of Cyprus offshore companies.
Arkady Rotenberg
Arkady Rotenberg fell under American sanctions on March 20, 2014, 3 weeks after the start of the first captures by armed separatists of state institutions in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine. A defendant in the European sanctions list is a businessman who at the age of 12 was engaged in the same Sambo and Judo section with Putin and his brother Boris, became July 30 of the same year, shortly after the Boeing was shot down over Donetsk. Due to the sanctions, in particular, the property of Arkady Rotenberg in Italy (hotel, apartment and 4 villas) were arrested . The total amount of the arrested assets was estimated by Reuters at 30 million euros. In addition, the bank also fell under the sanctions. Now Arkady Rotenberg is most often mentioned in connection with projects within Russia-his son Igor owns a company that collects money from truckers using the Plato system, and the company Rotenberg Sr. Stroygazmontazh is building a bridge to Crimea.
Dmitry Kalantyrsky has been working in the SMP bank since 2002. The Cypriot offshores of Arkady Rotenberg are approved in the investigation of the "municipal scanner", he began to head a few years after he arrived in the bank. So, in 2003-2004, Kalantyrsky owned an offshore company, which later appeared in the investigation of RBC on the "vodka assets" of Rotenberg, in particular - Vodka "Putinka".
After the sanctions, Arkady Rotenberg began to take active actions to protect his assets in different countries of the world-including selling shares in his enterprises to business partners and his sons. Many businessmen from Putin’s nearest circle came to the sanctions similarly.
Dmitry Kalanttyrsky ideally approached the role of the keeper and manager of the funds of Arkady Rotenberg: a few months after the start of the sanctions, his offshore Kartamon Technologies Ltd. He acquired 2 four -star hotels on the Austrian mountain pass of Nasfeld. According to the authors of the investigation, in reality the hotels were bought as part of the expansion of the business empire of the Brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenbergs. In September, after the arrest of Italian property, Arkady Rotenberg, writes the “municipal scanner”, Kalantyrsky left the post of chairman of the Bank of the SMP Bank - so as not to jeopardize the Austrian hotels and other purchases made by his offshore in the interests of the now former chief. Now Kalanttyrsh, presumably, lives in the very house in Prague, on the door of which there is even a call with his name.
One of the hotels, which, as the authors of the investigation suggest, were bought by Dmitry Kalantyrsky for Arkady Rotenberg
As Radio Liberty told one of the authors of the investigation of the Municipal Scanner Mikhail Maglov , Dmitry Kalantyrsky is not the only “emissar of Rotenberg” in Europe, designed to protect the existing assets of the businessman from sanctions and acquire new ones bypassing them. After some time, the activists of the Scanner intend to publish information about other business partners of Arkady Rotenberg in Europe.
- We came to the conclusion that Arkady Rotenberg, in order to bypass sanctions, came up with a scheme. This scheme is as follows: to send their people who worked with it for many years, to Western countries, including for them to register companies and buy assets. In the case of Dmitry Kalantyrsky, who, as we see, settled in the Czech Republic, we found two of his companies, which he was registered with his mother. For one of them, he purchased an apartment and a manor. It is possible that these are really his assets. But then we see that through his own Cyprus offshore two hotels in Austria were purchased. Moreover, this happened even before he sold his 11% of the shares of the SMP bank and left the post of chairman of his board. If you look at this scheme according to the deadlines, including when Rotenberg re-register Cyprus offshore controlled by him, then it can be seen that the main number of actions took place in December 2014, about six months after the sanctions, after many operations of Rotenberg’s business acts were blocked. He could not make transactions. In addition, real estate was arrested, which was recorded on his Cyprus offshore in Italy.
- Who is Dmitry Kalantyrsky?
-This man came to work to Rotenberg in the early 2000s. He worked in this rather high position for more than 10 years. Then he rather unexpectedly leaves his position as chairman of the board, sells Rotenberg his 11% of the shares of the SMP bank and leaves for the Czech Republic, where he opens companies, legal entities, including acquires two hotels in Austria through his Cyprus offshore. We believe that these two hotels - in fact, the new assets of Rotenberg, which he, being under sanctions, could not purchase for his Cyprus companies or in his name.
Dmitry Kalantyrsky
-Did the name of Dmitry Kalantyrsky appear in some other anti-corruption investigations, for example in Panama papers? Is this such a "Rotenberg Roldugin"?
- No, Roldugin is a nominal person. He has a certain job. It is not related to finances. Roldugin is a "nominal". But Kalanttyrsky is a direct top manager of Rotenberg since a long time. He did not particularly glow in investigations, but appears in the investigation of RBC, when Rotenberg’s connection with vodka factories and with the Putink brand was investigated. Kalanttyrsky was the founder of one of the Cypriot offshore, who later fell into his hands just by the business partner of Roldugin. And then he completely went into distant offshore zones.
-Tell us in more detail how exactly the scheme works with rewriting your assets to long-standing business partners? And will it allow you to fully bypass sanctions?
Assets are displayed from under one, “dangerous” legal entities, to others, no longer related to either the SMP bank or Rotenberg himself
- It is worth starting with the fact that in general the use of "nominalists" for Rotenberg is a common practice. If you look at its Russian business structure, then part of the assets, as a rule, not related to the oil and gas business, is recorded on nominal owners. As a rule, this is a legal company that accompanies the activities of the SMP Bank, or it is the top management of the SMP bank. The scheme is quite simple. After the sanctions were imposed, the current top management, that is, the people with whom he worked for more than 10 years, to whom he trusts fully, were “artificially extended” from Rotenberg himself and from the NMP Bank. First, Deputy Dmitry Kalantyrsky by the name of Pospelov leaves his position a month after the sanctions. Then, six months later, Dmitry Kalanttyrsh himself is already selling shares, after which he also leaves his post. These are people to whom he trusted for many years who worked with him for many years. But now they formally have nothing to do with Rotenberg or the SMP bank. Then they go to the countries of the West and already here perform actions with certain assets of Rotenberg-this is the purchase of new assets and actions with the rather old assets of Rotenberg, which are simply displayed from under one, “dangerous” legal persons to others, which are no longer related to either the NMP with the Bank himself or with Rotenberg himself.
-Do you know about some other "Rotenberg emissaries", in addition to Dmitry Kalantyrsky?
- Yes, it is known. The material we found is quite large. We decided to divide it into several parts. In one of the following parts, approximately the same persons as Dmitry Kalantyrsky will appear, performing exactly the same actions.
- Can you name the countries in which they act?
- We are talking about the countries of Eastern Europe.
- What other questions will there be to answer in the continuation of this investigation? What have you been able to find out yet?
We have found several people, but we do not yet understand whether this is the final list
- It is not clear to us - did we outlive the whole circle of these persons who were sent by Rotenberg to the West? We found several people, but we do not yet understand whether this is the final list. Accordingly, it is not clear whether all the assets newly acquired by us were taken into account. Another question that is unlikely to be answered, although, probably, Western politicians should do it. Are sanctions really effective? Why, including in these sanctions lists of Rotenberg, SMP Bank, did they not include the top management of this bank in it? Why does the closest relatives living in Western countries, on which, as we know, Putin’s environment also likes to record his assets, does not fall into sanctions lists, although, in fact, these people are nominal owners? After all, we know that the whole business needle of the Rotenberg family is connected exclusively with Putin's friend Arkady, with whom they went to engage in sambo and judo, ”says Mikhail Maglov.