The French prosecutor’s office is investigating the case of the acquisition of real estate in the country by Russian oligarchs. According to prosecutors, Russian oligarchs are involved in corruption and laundering of money, Bloomberg and other foreign media write.
The names of the oligarchs are not revealed. Now law enforcement officers find out how the Russians have accumulated money and were able to buy expensive real estate in France.
After the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the French authorities froze € 22 billion euros owned by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Together with them, villas, accounts and yachts of Russian oligarchs were arrested for € 850 million, Bruno Le Mayor, Minister of Economics and Finance of France, reported in March.
The investigation is slow. The French government admitted that it is faced with difficulties in identifying and arresting assets. Often they belong to foreign dummies. The prosecutors are helped by the anti -corruption organization Transparency International.
The investigation was sent against the organizers of the money laundering, corruption crimes, the prediction of state funds and evasion of taxes under aggravating circumstances.