Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Interview

Navalny to EU: Stop Russian criminals using your banks

  • Navalny: 'There is a big difference between business co-operation and giving wide opportunities for money laundering' (Photo: Person Behind the Scenes)

On the eve of a likely jail sentence, Russian activist Alexei Navalny has urged the EU to enforce its own laws in order to help Russian people fight corruption.

Navalny, a 37-year-old lawyer, has in the past three years become a thorn in the side of Russia's elite by publishing evidence of high-level corruption on his website, navalny.ru.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

On Tuesday (16 July), he, and his group of other young jurists, unveiled the secret business empire of Vladimir Yakunin, a government official who runs Russian Railways, the country's state-owned train operator.

According to their information, Russian Railways has channelled millions upon millions of taxpayers' money into businesses owned by Yakunin's wife and two sons.

The businesses include hotel chains, blocks of flats and marine ports.

But the Yakunin connection is hidden behind layers of offshore firms, dozens of which are registered in EU member state Cyprus.

Navalny published the information, obtained by trawling open sources, such as company registries, on Tuesday because he fears he will be jailed on Thursday.

Russian prosecutors have asked for a six-year sentence on charges he embezzled €380,000 worth of timber in a transaction in 2009.

EU diplomats, who are following the proceedings, say privately the trial is a sham.

But the judge who will rule on Navalny's fate at the end of the week has never issued a not-guilty verdict in his career.

Navalny told EUobserver by email from Moscow on Tuesday that the EU's frequent statements on lack of rule of law in Russia "are, of course, a good thing."

But he is "sceptical" they will prompt change.

Instead, he urged EU authorities to help Russian people by enforcing rule of law in EU member states.

Or, in other words, by stopping Russian criminals from using European banks and offshore structures to conceal their ill-gotten gains.

Noting that the EU's joint police body, Europol, the European Commission and six EU countries are now investigating a money laundering trail linked to the death of Russian whistleblower-auditor Sergei Magnitsky, Navalny said: "This work is fundamentally important."

He added: "Stolen money was smuggled outside my country and re-invested in Europe … If the commission and Europol do their job properly, it will create an extremely important precedent."

He said the EU should go further, by creating new legal obligations for sensitive Russian investments.

"The best strategy would be an additional anti-corruption regulation on European-Russian projects, primarily ones to do with energy … Projects implemented by major Russian corporations should be subject to independent anti-corruption checks similar to environmental impact assessments, which are carried out on pipeline projects," he explained.

He said he "fully approves" of EU and Russian companies doing business together.

But he added: "There is a big difference between business co-operation and giving wide opportunities for money laundering and investment of criminal funds in the EU."

If Russia jails him, there is a real risk he could come to harm.

Magnitsky, back in 2008, went into prison a healthy man.

He died in his cell 11 months later - also at the age of 37 - after contracting pancreatitis and after being beaten with rubber batons on the day of his death.

"Detention centres in Russia are places of absolute arbitrariness. Situations similar to the Magnitsky case are widespread, not to say typical," Navalny told this website.

His fellow activists do not believe that EU statements will keep him safe.

"We just want them [EU officials] to click on the website, to read our information and to do something about it. We can give them all the documents, fully certified, with legal translations," a Navalny associate, who asked to not to be named, said.

"This is our only option. We have no options in Russia," the contact added.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us