The story was pretty straightforward:
Putin has a daughter, Yekaterina.
Yekaterina has a husband, Kirill Shamalov.
Which means Putin has a son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov.
Putin’s son-in-law bought a stake in the country’s largest petrochemical company, SIBUR.
Putin’s son-in-law’s father-in-law—that is, Putin himself—granted SIBUR $1.75 billion in state aid, thereby making his daughter’s family tens of millions of dollars richer.
Under Russia’s anti-corruption law, if certain people—including children’s spouses,—benefit from an official’s actions, that is called a “personal interest” and a “conflict of interest.” Putin is required to publicly disclose that conflict of interest.
But he did not do that, thereby making himself, officially, corrupt.
I sued Putin, demanding a formal declaration of the conflict of interest. I even recorded a video about it, which is pretty funny to watch now: me with a beard sitting at my desk.
Of course, our wonderful judicial system declared that Putin’s immunity is so all-encompassing that it covers absolutely everything. You can’t sue him at all. In short, it was quite a high-profile story in 2016.
What I did not know, however, was the most important part of the deal: at what price did Kirill Shamalov buy the SIBUR stake?
I wrote a lot about it and assumed the price was preferential or undervalued. In the end, I decided they had really structured it as a standard option. So yes, still a bribe, of course—but one that was hard to pick apart.
How wrong I was. If only I had known just how wrong I was.
Today, the investigative outlet IStories (Important Stories) published an excellent piece titled “Kirill and Katya: Love, Separation, Offshore Companies, and Unlimited Resources. The Story of Russia’s Most Secretive Couple.”
As you might guess, it is devoted to this remarkable couple: President Putin’s daughter and the country’s youngest billionaire.
Be sure to read it and send the link to people you know.
There is also a good video for those too lazy to read:
Among other things, it reveals the mystery of how the stake in SIBUR was bought.
Putin’s son-in-law bought a block of shares with a market value of $380 million for... $100.
In other words, it’s very simple. Putin’s daughter got married, and the newlyweds were given $380 million as a wedding present.
It is unbelievable. Simply unbelievable, fantastical thieves are in power in our country.
Share the link to the video with people you know—it will be useful for them to watch.