Oligarch linked to billions in 27 Swiss bank accounts in sister’s name
Leaked documents raise questions over financial relations between relatives of billionaire ex-Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov
Kalyeena Makortoff and Simon Goodley
Tue 22 Mar 2022 17.02 GMT
Last modified on Tue 22 Mar 2022 22.09 GMT
Billions of pounds linked to the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov and his business empire appear to have been held in secret Swiss accounts belonging to his family, an analysis of leaked documents suggests.
Usmanov’s 56-year-old sister, Saodat Narzieva, appears to have been the one-time beneficial owner of at least 27 secret corporate accounts at Credit Suisse, including one that held nearly 1.9bn Swiss francs (CHF) (£1.6bn). Usmanov is subject to EU sanctions.
Narzieva is a gynaecologist and obstetrician in a maternity hospital in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent.
Her name is attached to Credit Suisse accounts that appear in the Suisse secrets project, a leak of data relating to 30,000 clients of the Swiss bank. It is not clear why her name would be linked to accounts associated with her brother’s business empire.
A spokesperson for Usmanov suggested the Credit Suisse data was “fake and incorrect” and there was nothing untoward about his financial relations with his sister, which were lawful and indicative of his “generosity”.
Information from numerous financial leaks, including Suisse secrets, the Panama papers and FinCEN Files, has allowed reporters at the Guardian to highlight the vast wealth linked to Usmanov.
The disclosures highlight the potential challenges western governments face when sanctioning or freezing the assets of oligarchs.
The Russian Asset Tracker project has included relatives and associates, because in some cases their wealth derives almost entirely from the person under sanctions. Including family gives a more complete picture of the scale of their fortunes and, in some cases, they may have been used to hide or disperse assets.
Last month, the US Treasury highlighted the problems of ownership by stating: “Sanctioned oligarchs and powerful Russian elites have used family members to move assets and to conceal their immense wealth.”
Usmanov was worth an estimated $18.4bn (£14bn) in 2021 when he was listed as one of the world’s 100 wealthiest people by Forbes magazine.
When the Guardian first asked Usmanov about links between the Credit Suisse accounts showing his sister as a beneficiary and his business group on 15 February, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he instructed the London law firm Schillings to respond on his behalf. At the time, they said “true or false, information about a person’s finances is private. We can see no reason at all for our client to discuss financial dealings with journalists.” Schillings did not respond when asked whether the firm still represented the oligarch.
The spokesperson for Usmanov has since stated that Narzieva did not have “possession or control of any accounts in Swiss banks on behalf of her brother”.
“Any financial relations of Mr Usmanov with his sister would have been [the] result of his well-known generosity and support that he has always lawfully lent to his relatives,” they said.
His spokesperson added that “all of Mr Usmanov’s businesses have been audited by Big 4 [audit] companies, since their inception, as well as were his personal tax returns and expenses. All of his investments, his expenses and his income have gone through strict compliance procedures.”
Usmanov, an Uzbek-born businessman, has been subject to an asset freeze and EU travel ban since late February, after the bloc identified him as “one of Vladimir Putin’s favourite oligarchs” who it is claimed has paid millions to one of Putin’s influential advisers and been “entrusted with servicing financial flows”.
Usmanov accused the EU of “false and defamatory allegations” that were “damaging his honour, dignity and business reputation”.
Sanctions have also been imposed on him in the US and UK, where he once held a 30% stake in Arsenal football club. Switzerland has followed suit, ditching political neutrality to match the EU’s efforts.
While western governments have introduced sanctions against the relatives of some Russian oligarchs, none of Usmanov’s family members have been included on any lists so far.
According to documents in the Suisse secrets data, the 27 accounts at Credit Suisse that listed Narzieva as the beneficial owner were opened between 2004 and 2014, and 16 listed Usmanov’s metals, mining and telecoms holding company, USM, as a contact.
The largest of the accounts held nearly 1.9bn CHF in 2011, while two others held up to 1.3bn CHF and 460m CHF in 2014.
While a handful of the accounts were closed by 2016, about 18 are believed to have still been active in recent years. All of the assets were held in business accounts, some of which are believed to be linked to offshore companies. Credit Suisse said it was unable to comment on the accounts because of Swiss banking secrecy laws, and said it applies all sanctions “as a matter of principle and policy.”
Narzieva’s brother made his fortune producing plastic bags, which were a rare commodity in the former Soviet Union, and later went on to manage the investment holdings arm of Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom from 2000 to 2014.
He built stakes in a range of metals, mining, telecom and media firms through USM, which owns Russia’s second-largest mobile phone operator, MegaFon, as well as a 49% stake Metalloinvest, the metals and mining company Usmanov founded in 1999.