Australia probes Kremlin-centered money laundering scheme

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with the Government via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:24 AM PT – Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Australia has continued to investigate a money laundering scheme centered around a top official with Russia’s Putin regime.

According to Transparency International Russia, nine Russian citizens stashed more than $30 million in Australian banks in recent years. The money was allegedly laundered on behalf of the son of the deputy attorney general of Russia.

The suspects run a mining company in East Siberia that has no official revenue. The report found the suspects conspired with Putin regime officials to sell Russia’s minerals to Mainland China and then hold the revenue in Australian banks.

“The price they listed was $27 for 1 kilogram, while the real price is between $50 and $100,” explained Evgeniy Kislov, laboratory director of the Institute of Geology for the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “I know that a large shipment of the precious mineral, back in 2015, went to the city of Doning in China’s Heilongjiang province. It was sold there for $15,000 per 1 kilogram and in Beijing that would cost up to $50,000 for 1 kilogram.”

Russian anti-corruption activists have said the Australian scheme is part of a broader criminal activity by the Kremlin to sell Russia’s national wealth to China and other countries.

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