Even the allegedly most expensive yacht in the world at more than 500 million euros alone gives an idea of the wealth with which the Russian oligarch Usmanov surrounds himself. Now investigators are said to have come across wooden boxes in connection with the "Dilbar". Contents: 30 paintings, including a Chagall.
According to a report by NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung, valuable art treasures were discovered in connection with the search of the luxury yacht "Dilbar" in Bremen. The investigators from the Federal Criminal Police Office and the tax investigation found 30 paintings by important painters on the ship, which is attributed to the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov. Among them is a work by the French-Russian expressionist Marc Chagall. The total value of the finds is estimated at five million euros.
The "Dilbar" is located at the Lürssen shipyard in Bremen, previously it was in the dry dock at the Hamburg shipyard Blohm Voss, where it should be overhauled from autumn 2021. At that point, the art treasures had been taken off the ship and stored by a Hamburg forwarding company. There they were discovered by police officers packed in wooden boxes at the beginning of October this year. Apparently they were there just looking for evidence that the yacht belonged to Usmanov.
Usmanov denies owning the yacht. The works of art did not belong to him either, said a spokesman for NDR, WDR and the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". In doing so, he justified Usmanov not reporting the paintings to the German authorities.
Already in September, 60 officers searched the yacht. Marines also accompanied the action at the time to better find possible hiding places on the ship. The background is a money laundering procedure by the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office, which the Munich II public prosecutor's office is also investigating. The Russian entrepreneur is suspected of arranging multiple transactions between 2017 and 2022 to hide the origin of funds, investigators said.
The funds shifted are said to come from criminal offenses, particularly tax evasion crimes. According to the current status of the investigations, the volume of money smuggling is said to be in the tens of millions. The Russian entrepreneur is said to have used his extensive and complex network of companies mainly in so-called offshore countries.
The luxury yacht, which is said to belong to the sister of the oligarch loyal to the Kremlin, was detained in April on the basis of EU sanctions for the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine. The allegedly most expensive yacht in the world at more than 500 million euros was subject to a ban on disposal and may no longer be sold, rented or encumbered, as a spokesman for the BKA said at the time.
Usmanow is also associated with properties at Tegernsee in Bavaria, as well as in Baden-Württemberg, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. The entrepreneur is suspected of having spent frozen funds as part of the sanctions against Russia for the war of aggression against Ukraine. According to NDR, WDR and "Süddeutsche Zeitung", four Fabergé eggs were also discovered in Rottach-Egern during searches in September. Usmanov says these are not originals, but replicas that he bought as gifts for friends in his native Uzbekistan.
