In France, detained Russian billionaire Kuzmichev was released on bail of 8 million euros
He is charged with aggravated tax fraud and money laundering
Alexei Kuzmichev, a Russian billionaire and co-founder of Alfa Group, who was detained in France, has been released on bail of €8 million, Le Monde reports.
He is charged with aggravated tax fraud and money laundering. The billionaire has been placed under judicial control and is banned from leaving France.
It is known that Kuzmichev was detained on October 30 for questioning on three counts: tax evasion, money laundering and violation of the sanctions regime. His Paris mansion and villa in Saint-Tropez were searched.
This year, Forbes ranked Kuzmichev 25th on the list of Russian billionaires with a net worth of $6.4 billion.
He is one of the three co-founders of Alfa Group (along with Mikhail Fridman and German Khan) who started in the Soviet era and have remained in business to this day, but he is the least publicized of them all.
After the detention of Kuzmichev, who is considered by Western countries to be close to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow would help protect his rights "if the detainee so wishes."
According to an AFP source, the investigation was prompted, among other things, by Kuzmichev's expensive real estate. In 2012, he bought a house in Paris for 28 million euros, which was once the headquarters of the French spirits producer Pernod-Ricard.
Kuzmichev, one of the co-owners of Alfa Group, has been under EU sanctions since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. In March 2022, it became known that he had two yachts worth more than €5 million seized.
According to EU officials, Alfa-Bank, in which Kuzmichev owns a large stake, is one of Russia's largest taxpayers, and the businessman himself is among the "most influential people in Russia" with close ties to Putin.
At the end of 2022, Kuzmichev managed to prove in court that the arrest of his yacht La Petite Ourse was illegal, but the yacht was never returned to him. The Russian billionaire went to court to have the EU sanctions against him lifted, an AFP source said. The decision is expected on November 15.
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