On November 6, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) announced that the United States Department of Justice had launched an investigation into Russian businessman Gennady Timchenko and Swiss commodity giant Gunvor. Investigators suspect that funds linked to allegedly corrupt deals in Russia could have been transferred through the US financial system. According to the New York Times, an anonymous federal law enforcement official said that the US law enforcement bodies have been interested in Timchenko and Gunvor since 2011 as part of a federal investigation into money laundering and improper oil trading. Gunvor founder Gennady Timchenko, who, according to Forbes’ Russian edition, controls 15 billion dollars in assets (and is affiliated with such companies as Volga Group, Gunvor, Novatek, Bank Rossiya, Sibur and Transoil), called the investigation into Gunvor by the US authorities a series of “provocations” that have been continuing for several years as well as another attempt to target Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin’s press secretary Dmitri Peskov seems to share the businessman’s attitude.
The inquiry is being conducted as part of a wider effort to track down the proceeds of foreign corruption under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative launched by the US government in 2010 that has until now targeted allegedly corrupt businessmen and officials in Africa and the Middle East. The investigation into Timchenko is the first one involving a company that is related to Russia.
According to the media, investigators believe that Gunvor purchased oil from state-controlled Rosneft jacking up its commission considerably and later laundered profits through third parties. US law enforcement officials suspect that transfers of funds through US banks related to the trading operations that Gunvor made before March 2014 might prove illegal. As is well-known, in March 2014, one day before the US government announced its “blacklist” of Russians subject to Ukraine-related sanctions, which Timchenko made himself, the latter had sold his 44 percent stake to Gunvor’s co-founder Torbjörn Törnqvist. The US Treasury Department openly declared that Timchenko’s being a close associate of President Putin served as a reason for imposing sanctions on him personally. No official comments have yet been made by the US Department of Justice on either the inquiry or possible charges.
Gennady Timchenko does not like to make a public display of his personal life: for quite a long time, he had managed to remain in the shadows surrounded by lots of rumors. However, probably due to foreign law enforcement bodies’ increased focus on businessmen close to the Russian president, Timchenko slowly began to unmask himself by giving interviews, during one of which he declared, without giving any details, that “Alas, there is reason to seriously fear a provocation by US secret services. Believe me, it is not a supposition, but quite concrete information.” According to Timchenko, despite being a citizen of the EU, he has made no trips from Russia to Europe in recent times.
Unfortunately, US law enforcement bodies do not show any particular enthusiasm when it comes to investigating criminal activity of Russian kleptocrats. They find it much easier to catch and punish their own American or Swiss bankers since those are more willing to admit their guilt. Hopefully, in Timchenko’s case avenging arrows of American justice will reach their goal.
