The yacht of the Russian oligarch Usmanov is located in northern Germany and is said to be worth 500 million euros. Now dozens of investigators are searching the gigantic ship of the Kremlin confidant, who lived for a long time on Lake Tegernsee. In the meantime, he is said to have settled - but not in Putin's empire.
Almost a week after the raid on the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanow on Lake Tegernsee, investigators in northern Germany searched a motor yacht belonging to the 69-year-old, which had been blocked since the spring. Around 60 officers were on duty, according to the Frankfurt am Main Attorney General and the Federal Criminal Police Office, without naming a name.
According to a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, however, it is the same suspect whose property on Lake Tegernsee was searched on Wednesday last week. With the search this Tuesday, a request for legal assistance from the US Department of Justice was implemented at the same time.
The investigators had already announced last week that Usmanow's yacht "Dilbar" had been relocated from Hamburg to Bremen. According to a report by Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the ship is said to have a value of 500 million euros and was the most expensive yacht in the world, at least when it was completed. Among other things, the equipment includes the largest pool ever installed on a yacht.
According to the investigators, Usmanov is said to have moved an amount in the tens of millions and to have violated the EU sanctions imposed on him because of Russia's attack on Ukraine. He is considered a confidant of the Russian head of state Vladimir Putin. His current whereabouts are unclear. According to media reports, he fled to Uzbekistan after the start of the Russian attack. Before that he lived undisturbed in Bavaria at the Tegernsee.
The raids are related to two separately ongoing proceedings in Frankfurt and Munich. The Frankfurt investigators began their proceedings after the publication of the so-called Panama Papers. Usmanow is said to have arranged several money transactions between 2017 and this year in order to disguise its origin.
In the transactions, the accused is said to have used his extensive and complex network of companies and companies, mainly in so-called offshore countries. There is a suspicion that the money comes from tax evasion. The volume is probably in the tens of millions.
The Munich II public prosecutor's office is also investigating Usmanow on initial suspicion of a violation of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act. Even after being included on the European Union's sanctions list on February 28, Usmanow is said to have had his property in Upper Bavaria guarded by a security company.
By paying for these security services, he acted contrary to the ban on disposing of frozen funds. Four other suspects are accused of aiding and abetting the violation by supporting the security services.
