Today we’re going to talk about one of the Federation Council’s most prolific legal minds, Andrei Alexandrovich Klishas. A Doctor of Law and the Federation Council’s authorized representative to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee. A professor and head of the department of constitutional and municipal law at the law faculty of RUDN University (Peoples' Friendship University of Russia).
In less than 10 minutes of remarks at Putin’s residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, Klishas managed to propose and win support for five laws and amendments at once. He drew inspiration from events in Ukraine, invoking burning tires and the claim that nonprofit organizations’ money had become the material basis for an unconstitutional coup. In short, Klishas’s ten-minute speech resulted in approval of:
But enough about titles and honors: Klishas’s achievements were further recognized by his inclusion on American, Canadian, and European sanctions lists. Unlike most of his fellow listees, who insist that sanctions do not bother them and are even somehow pleasant, Andrei Alexandrovich is unlikely to have missed their impact.
For several years now, the brave and resolute Klishas has been declaring a plot of land and a house in hostile Switzerland.
But please, don’t rush to judge our hero. You see, Senator Klishas loves taking part in events with titles like “Gatherer of Russian Lands.”
I don’t think it even needs to be said that it is utterly impossible to speak seriously about gathering Russian lands without owning a villa in Switzerland. It is, really, a professional necessity.
For a long time, we wanted at least a glimpse of the place where Senator Klishas indulges in leisurely reflections on gathering Russian lands.
We took a look and found some curious details. The senator’s “summer cottage plot” from Krasnoyarsk Krai is located in a picturesque suburb of the Swiss city of Locarno, on a mountainside overlooking Lake Maggiore.
This is the view from the windows of Senator Klishas’s house at those moments when he worries that website-blocking mechanisms in the Russian internet are still not perfect enough and that another little law needs to be introduced:
On the cadastral map, his plot looks like this:
The main house has a rounded facade and a view over the valley, with various outbuildings around it and a garage with separate parking.
Senator Klishas has hidden himself rather well: his estate is completely invisible from the road, sitting higher up the slope behind a green fence.
But such difficulties cannot stop ACF’s air squad (the Anti-Corruption Foundation).
And here is the view once again:
Now take a look at the plot’s area in the cadastral records:
And let’s compare that area with what is listed as a “summer cottage plot” in the 2013 declaration
It appears that Senator Klishas concealed more than 400 square meters of his plot. And to make absolutely sure, we obtained an official document from the commune that settles the matter once and for all.
The total area listed there is nearly identical—975 square meters—and it details the area occupied by each structure on the property. Apparently, the senator decided that the land beneath his main house and other buildings did not count, and declared only the garden and the area in front of the entrance. As is our tradition, we will file a complaint about Klishas with the Federation Council and other “relevant authorities.”
As a timely innovation, we also decided to write to the Swiss prosecutor’s office and the economics department responsible for implementing sanctions. Although Switzerland did not impose separate sanctions of its own, it does support the European ones and is taking all measures to avoid becoming a safe haven for those placed on blacklists.
Here are our complaints:
The prosecutor’s office has already taken note of our information. It will be interesting to see whether Klishas’s estate meets a fate similar to that of the Rotenberg villas.
According to the decree of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Mr. Klishas, who was placed under EU sanctions back in the spring, is not allowed to establish any “new business relationships” (Art. 8). In other words, Klishas can neither sell, rent out, nor mortgage his Swiss estate. As for existing business relationships, all financial intermediaries are required to report their dealings with Klishas to the economics authorities, including the beneficiary’s name, the purpose, and the volume of financial transactions. If this law is actually being enforced, then the Swiss authorities should already have an entire dossier of our senator’s business transactions—from payments to a gardener to phone and internet bills. Incidentally, Klishas claims that he has no accounts in Europe. That sounds quite astonishing, given that a house and plot in Switzerland require upkeep and bills must be paid. We firmly reject the possibility that kind little gnomes are paying Klishas’s electricity bill. Most likely, he is using a corporate account belonging to some offshore entity and, in doing so, once again brazenly deceiving Russians. All in all, Senator Klishas has good reason to worry. And if sanctions do not frighten him, then he should at least be more careful when swimming—Lake Maggiore is home to a predatory fish that has been terrorizing vacationers.
PS Thanks to all the volunteers and ACF staff who took part in this project, code-named “Gathering Swiss Lands.” Special thanks to our Swiss agent. If you support what we do, we’d be glad if you took a look here.
PPS Take another look at the list of Klishas’s hellish bills at the beginning of this post. It would be great if you “thanked” him by sharing this link.
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