Dear citizens of Ukraine, a question for you, because we simply can’t understand or figure anything out just from the internet.
The anti-crime revolution won, Yanukovych was driven out, and the golden loaf was thrown after him (a reference to the gilded bread-shaped ornament associated with his corruption scandal). Is any anti-corruption effort happening now? Is there any progress on corporate transparency, on access to beneficial ownership data? Who is dealing with this at all?
No sarcasm here—we have a completely practical question. There is this deputy, Babakov (listed in the ACF dossier under the nickname "Babachello")
He is the poorest deputy in the State Duma (according to his official declaration) and one of the richest in terms of actual assets. Apartments in Paris, châteaux in France, and all that sort of thing. I wrote about this in detail in a Christmas story about the Cinderella of the State Duma.
The Ukrainian press writes quite openly, and as if it were an established fact, that our Babachello owns a whole bunch of energy companies in Ukraine. His fortune is estimated at $350 million.
And it’s not some fringe press writing about Babakov’s assets in Ukraine, but the most respectable outlets—for example, Forbes: 20 hotels and shopping centers (the latter were seized so aggressively that the previous owner nearly took the case to a European court) http://forbes.ua/magazine/forbes/1345154-kto-zarabatyvaet-na-nedvizhimosti/1345173#cut Babakov is in 6th place among the biggest buyers of state assets http://forbes.ua/nation/1343441-infografika-komu-pravitelstvo-nikolaya-azarova-rodinu-prodavalo Babakov is in 9th place in the rentier ranking http://forbes.ua/magazine/forbes/1332945-rejting-rante-2011/1333270
With that in mind, here are the questions:
If anyone has the relevant knowledge, please share it. As things stand, it’s easier for us to track down Babachello’s assets in Eastern Europe than in Ukraine.
You can write here — fbk@fbk.info — with the subject line "Babachello"; any information and documents can be sent anonymously here, or just leave them in the comments.
Thanks in advance.