Thread by @lukeharding1968

Revealed: the spies who came in from the cold – how Vladimir #Putin’s alleged lover and an old family friend hid their fortunes in sunny #Monaco, with help from a British accountant. But was the money really theirs? My @guardian story from #PandoraPapers theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/…

In 2003 a mysterious offshore company, Brockville Development Ltd, bought a luxury €3.6m apartment overlooking Monaco’s marina. Its owner? Svetlana Krivonogikh, a 28-year-old #Russian woman who around the turn of the millennium became extremely rich #PandoraPapers

According to the #Russian investigative website Proekt, Krivonogikh was friends with Putin – and became his lover. Months before secretly buying the offshore Monaco property, Krivonogikh gave birth to a daughter Luiza Rozova. Putin is her Dad, Proekt alleges #PandoraPapers

The Monaco professional services firm Moores Rowland arranged the secret flat purchase. Its other clients include the #Russian oil trader Gennady Timchenko – who has known Putin since at least the early 1990s – and Petr Kolbin, a childhood friend of the president’s, now dead

Moores Rowland’s chairman is Eamonn McGregor, a long-time #Monaco resident and the son of police constable from the UK seaside town of Southport. We don’t know how he became offshore fixer and accountant to #Putin’s inner circle – a role first revealed by the #PandoraPapers leak

Despite having no business experience, in 2003 Kolbin became a director of a petroleum business. Moores Rowland helped him open anonymous offshore bank accounts in #Switzerland and #Singapore, together with Dmitry Gorelov, a #KGB officer who served with #Putin in 1980s Dresden

Kolbin’s fortune eventually grew to $550m. In 2012 he told the journalist Roman Shleynov: “I’m no businessman”, adding that “senior comrades” told him what to sign. Critics including @navalny allege Kolbin is a “wallet” for #Putin’s own private wealth, running into billions

The #PandoraPapers leak – 11.9m documents – fills in some of the gaps from the Panama and Paradise papers. Last year Proekt revealed Krivonogikh had acquired a $100m fortune including shares in Bank Rossiya, the personal bank for Putin and his #KGB cronies
maski-proekt.media/putin-secret-f…

This latest data dump shows Krivonogikh’s shadow portfolio is bigger and more colourful than previously thought. We visited her #Monaco apartment in August together with other #PandoraPapers media partners, including @washingtonpost @BBCpanorama & @SZ_investigativ She wasn’t in

The #PandoraPapers reveal the feudal character of the #Russian regime, after two decades of #Putin. His friends, alleged lovers and associates are the main beneficiaries of a #kleptocratic system, made possible by facilitators in the west including offshore agents and banks

The Kremlin, Krivonogikh and Gorelov declined to comment. Lawyers for Timchenko said he had acted "entirely lawfully throughout his career and business dealings". Moores Rowland said it couldn’t comment on clients but did "rigorous" due diligence and liaised with regulators

If you have any information on this story please get in touch. And do think about donating to support the @Guardian and its journalism. Major global investigations like the #PandoraPapers require time - almost two years! - resources, and legal expertise support.theguardian.com/uk/contribute?…

My books on #Russia – Shadow State, Collusion, A Very Expensive Poison and #Mafia State – explore Kremlin corruption, as well as #Moscow espionage and murder. Some terrific works also by other authors including @CatherineBelton @OliverBullough & @tomburgis
amazon.co.uk/Shadow-State-M…