Chelea Owner Roman Abramovich gave Vladimir Putin a $35M yacht in one of dozens of acquisitions through which the Russian president "has amassed a vast covert fortune," according to Roland Oliphant of the London TELEGRAPH.
The "remarkable allegations come as a top American official openly accused Putin of: corruption, nepotism, and direct embezzlement of state funds." Putin himself has dismissed claims about his wealth as “simply rubbish.” But a new Panorama documentary details allegations that Putin "has established a complex system of 'training and practices in term of how to mask his actual wealth.'"
Details include Putin’s alleged acquisition of the Olympia, a 57m luxury yacht.
Dmitry Skarga, a former head of Russia’s state shipping company Sovcomflot, said the boat "was a gift" from Abramovich, who transferred it to the president via an intermediary. Skarga: "It's a fact that Mr. Abramovich, through his employee transferred a yacht to Mr Putin." Abramovich’s lawyers "called the claims about the yacht 'unsubstantiated' and little more than a 'rehash of speculation and rumours'" (TELEGRAPH, 1/25).
