Putin’s spox: Kremlin unaware of detail of new offshore leaks

MOSCOW, Nov 7 (PRIME) -- The Kremlin has seen Paradise Papers, including data on connections of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to Russian petrochemical holding Sibur, but it is unaware of any detail, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

On November 5, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) together with some international mass media published a report on activity of offshore companies in the world. The report said Ross’ transport company Navigator Holdings Ltd cooperated with Sibur, while Russia’s second largest bank VTB and a subsidiary of gas giant Gazprom financed Yury Milner’s DST Global purchase of stakes in Facebook and Twitter.

“You know the company (Sibur) is not state-owned, it is private. This is why in this case we saw media reports, but we don’t know any detail,” Peskov said referring to connections between Ross and Sibur.

Deputy Finance Minister Ilya Trunin said that the ministry does not ban Russian companies from using offshores if it is not connected to tax optimization schemes. “We have always been saying that one is allowed to do anything in accordance with the Tax Code. One should only send information timely and pay corresponding taxes,” he said.

The current reports on offshore activity was made possible by illegal leaks of data from companies. “An automatic exchange (of tax information) is to work starting from next year, and all jurisdictions have joined it, so we will start receiving exactly the same information officially,” he said.

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