International investigation of "important stories"

The Great Duchy of Luxembourg is a small but rich European state. So many investment companies, banks and funds are registered there that about two companies account for each resident of the Luxembourg capital. The secret is simple - low tax rates and anonymity for a long time attracted money from around the world. In 2017–2019, only 850 billion rubles were transferred from Russia to Luxembourg, the Russian Ministry of Finance calculated . So in December 2020, Vladimir Putin signed a law that increases the dividend tax that are transferred to Luxembourg from 13 to 15 %.

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Anonymity is also over. Access to the documents of all companies registered in Luxembourg was received by journalists of the French publication Le Monde. In cooperation with the Center for the Study of Corruption and Organizational Process (OCCRP), they brought more than a million documents from the received archive in such a type that they could be analyzed. “Important stories” became a project partner in Russia. The Luxembourg files are not only corporate papers, annual and financial reports, but also information about the beneficiaries of companies, that is, about their real owners.

Luxembourg pledged to disclose this data after the Fifth Directive to Combat money in 2018 and created the so -called public register of beneficial owners, which everyone can look into the fifth directive of laundering in 2018. But in this official registry, a search by last name is not allowed. Thanks to the Luxembourg files, we gained access to the full list of beneficiaries.

“Important stories” found more than a thousand Russians in this list. Among them are not only businessmen from the Forbes rating (more than 20 people), but also former and current state -owned companies, as well as their large contractors. The fact that Russian entrepreneurs had companies in Luxembourg is not surprising, so we were more interested in the company's immigrants from state -owned companies and those who are closely connected with them.

Luxembourg firms were often used to own real estate in other European countries, closer to the warm seas. Luxembourg himself does not have an exit to the sea, but there are special tax regimes there.

What they are attractive, explains the partner of Paragon Advice Group Alexander Zakharov: “Luxembourg, as one of the countries that stood at the source of the European Union and where important EU institutions are located, was allowed that other European states were not allowed. First of all, the use of Luxembourg companies gives significant tax advantages in transactions with shares. There, subject to some conditions, it is possible to completely exempt from taxation profit from the sale of shares. This is the reason why Luxembourg is chosen by many funds and investment companies. ”

Partner Paragon Advice Group Alexander
Zakharov “The use of Luxembourg companies gives significant tax advantages in transactions with shares. There, subject to some conditions, it is possible to completely exempt from taxation profit from the sale of shares. This is the reason why Luxembourg is chosen by many funds and investment companies. ”

According to Zakharov, banks like to use Luxembourg for special transactions (security), which allow you to display problem assets for balance. There is also a special mode that reduces taxes for family funds that control assets (SPF). They, along with mutual investment funds (Sicav and SicaF), are very popular among Russians. These funds are now the main tool for attracting money to Luxembourg.

“Until 2016–2017, Luxembourg was also used to minimize taxes in property ownership in Europe. This was possible thanks to Luxembourg agreements with other countries, for example, with France and Spain, ”says Alexander Zakharov. “But the French and Spanish tax authorities have long been aimed at attracting as much money as possible to the budget, and their actions are profiscal in nature, that is, they identify schemes that do not have other economic meaning other than creating artificial conditions for minimizing taxes.” The expert recalls that the first high -profile tax case regarding the Russian related to the use of Luxembourg companies was the proceedings with the property of Senator Suleiman Kerimov in France.

Photo: Federation Council

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“Previously, rich Russian and European families used Luxembourg, in particular, to maintain anonymity in ownership of assets. But now people are faced with the fact that if they are not revealed in Russia, they will be opened in Europe, and they are forced to take into account these risks, ”adds Zakharov. According to him, it is still not easy to find Russian officials in this list: “They have been trying not to formalize the companies for a long time, and if they are registered at all, then for fake people. They are prohibited by them to use the nominal nominal owners ( nominal owners of the property that stands the real owner. But I do not exclude that some unscrupulous officials still use nominal nominal. Although when owning foreign assets, risks are much higher for them than for ordinary people, anti -corruption actions abroad have more and more serious consequences. ”

Read stories within the #openlux project-about former and current top managers of Russian Railways , Rosneft and Gazprom .