A French court has put an end to the case regarding the seizure of a villa belonging to a former Russian minister
31 May 01:16
The French courts have upheld the legality of the seizure of a luxury villa on the French Riviera linked to high-ranking Russian officials and alleged money laundering. According to "Komersant Ukrainian", this was reported by Le Monde.
“The Investigative Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal has upheld the criminal seizure of the Maïgrana villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in the Alpes-Maritimes department. The property was seized in October 2022, several months after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” the publication writes.
French authorities are investigating a possible money laundering scheme involving former Russian Minister of Industry Viktor Khristenko and his wife Tatyana Golikova, the current Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government. They are suspected of possessing significant hidden assets, including real estate in Spain, Portugal, and France.
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The luxurious Maïgrana villa with a pool on the Mediterranean coast became the first such property seized by French authorities in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
As noted, in France, following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, approximately two dozen proceedings regarding Russian assets were initiated. Nearly ten of these have already led to the seizure of assets in France and other countries—totaling nearly 1 billion euros.
French law allows for the application of the so-called presumption of money laundering if complex schemes for the acquisition or ownership of property may be intended to conceal the origin of funds or the true owner.
In the case of the Maïgrana villa, the financial intelligence unit Tracfin flagged a suspicious transaction in the summer of 2022. The property was sold for €23 million by the Swiss company Corram SA, which, according to the investigation, was controlled by an offshore entity in Panama.
The company’s bank in Liechtenstein refused to accept the funds transfer. The money remained with the notary, despite attempts to transfer it to Spain, the UAE, and Montenegro. Investigators also uncovered a complex network of companies and financial flows linked to Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands.
French authorities believe that Viktor Khristenko could be the actual owner of the Swiss company, and thus of the villa. In addition to the villa itself, 17.2 million euros of the funds intended for the seller were also seized.
The Paris Court of Appeal concluded that the use of shell companies and offshore accounts linked to Khristenko had no obvious justification other than the possible concealment from tax authorities of the origin of the funds, as well as the true economic beneficiary of the sale. The case will now be heard by the Court of Cassation.
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