Russian oligarch nonetheless owned Italian resort months after sanctions, submitting reveals

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Russian oligarch Musa Bazhaev nonetheless owned a Sardinian luxurious resort greater than two months after the EU imposed sanctions on him following Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, a company submitting reveals.

The disclosure was made in an annual statutory doc filed in Cyprus on June 26 2022 by Retivia Investments, a Cyprus-based entity that owns the famed Forte Village lodge in addition to different belongings in Sardinia value greater than €700mn.

The submitting raises questions over why Italian authorities didn’t transfer to freeze the belongings within the weeks following April 8 2022, when Bazhaev was placed on the EU sanctions checklist. French authorities seized the oligarch’s villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the finish of April.

Bazhaev’s possession of the Forte Village was public information since at the very least 2014 and the Russian donated €500,000 to the Sardinian civil safety company through the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Italian monetary police, the Guardia di Finanza, declined to remark, citing “lack of authorisation to debate the matter”.

The June submitting additionally contradicts one other publicly accessible doc filed to the Cypriot firm registry a month later, on July 26 2022, stating Retivia Investments had been bought to a relative of Bazhaev on February 25 2022, a day after the invasion.

The discrepancy over the belongings’ possession within the June and July filings raises questions in regards to the timing or actuality of the switch of those belongings.

A spokesperson for Bazhaev didn’t reply to requests for remark. The Cyprus firm registry didn’t reply to requests for remark.

The EU has struggled to shut loopholes in its sanctions regime in opposition to Russia to restrict its funding for the battle in Ukraine.

In early 2023 Retivia Investments and its belongings, together with Forte Village, was transferred to Kazakh businessman Shukhrat Ibragimov, based on firm data. He’s the chief government of Luxembourg-based Eurasian Sources Group, one of many world’s largest producers of cobalt and copper.

A spokesperson for Ibragimov declined to remark.

Constructed within the Seventies and named after hotelier Sir Charles Forte, the Forte Village is positioned in Pula on the southern coast of Sardinia. It’s a favorite amongst celebrities and jet-setters keen to pay greater than €10,000 an individual for every week’s keep through the excessive season.

Bazhaev, who was born in Chechnya, is one in every of Russia’s richest males with pursuits spanning the oil, metals and commodities sectors. The 58-year-old is president of the JSC Alliance Group, which based on the EU “helps various vital corporations within the Russian gasoline, oil, and telecommunications sectors”.

He’s additionally chair of Russian Platinum which Brussels stated offers a “substantial income to the Authorities of the Russian Federation”. Bazhaev has remained on the EU and UK sanctions lists.

Retivia’s present proprietor Ibragimov was Bazhaev’s co-investor in Jeruy, Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest gold mine. The mine was inaugurated in 2021 by the nation’s president Sadyr Japarov and Russia’s chief Vladimir Putin.

In late 2022, Ibragimov’s 40 per cent stake within the gold mine was transferred to a Russian firm owned by the Bazhaevs, which grew to become its sole shareholder, Cypriot firm data present.

Further reporting by Simon Foy in London