The villa of Putin's ex-wife in the south of France seized by the courts following suspicions of aggravated money laundering

La villa avait été vandalisée par des tags anti-Poutine en février 2022. ILLUSTRATION MAXPPP – Emilie Drouinaud

Located in Anglet, near Biarritz (Pyrénées Atlantiques), the Art Deco building purchased in 2013 by the new companion of Lyudmila Poutine, the ex-wife of the Russian head of state, was seized by French justice which is wondering about the origin of the funds which made this acquisition possible.

A villa, belonging to a Russian businessman in Anglet, near Biarritz (Pyrénées Atlantiques), was seized as part of an investigation into suspicions of aggravated money laundering, indicated this Wednesday, April 17, the Paris prosecutor's office.

The villa called "Souzanna", which had been purchased for 5.4 million euros in December 2013, was seized on 6  December 2023, said the prosecution, confirming press information.

According to the magazine Challenges, this Art Deco style villa belongs to Russian businessman Artur Ocheretny, Lyudmila Putin's new companion, the former wife of Vladimir Putin.

The investigations, launched in September 2022, must determine in particular whether the funds which enabled this acquisition have a fraudulent origin. "No person is currently being pursued in this case", underlined the prosecution.

This procedure was launched following a complaint from the anti-corruption association Transparency International, filed after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, and targeting four Russian oligarchs or relatives of ;rsquo;Russian oligarchs.

Activists demand restitution for the benefit of the Ukrainian people

According to Challenges, renovation work on the Souzanna villa was carried out for an amount of 3.5 million d&rsquo ;euros. The businessman acquired other real estate in Europe, notably in Spain and Switzerland, for several million euros.

"His officially known professional activities do not generate sufficient income to justify such a lifestyle with acquisitions worth several tens of millions of euros& ;quot;, observed to AFP Sara Brimbeuf, head of advocacy at Transparency International.

"This is property that was occupied by activists who called for its seizure and confiscation for the benefit of the Ukrainian people" and "it belongs to the ex-wife of Vladimir Putin, so we arrive in a fairly close circle" of the Russian president, she explained.

"This is the demonstration that seizures and confiscations remain the most appropriate path to achieve definitive confiscation, or even restitution of profits of the Ukrainian people", added Sara Brimbeuf, recalling that the freeze was a political decision that could be lifted.