Assets worth €41 million seized from Russian businessman in Italy at Kyiv's request

Florence’s Financial Guard has seized assets worth €41 million from a Russian businessman following a request for international legal assistance filed by the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office in Kyiv.

As reported by Italian news agency Ansa, the seized assets, real estate and shares in companies (including a 12th-century castle in the Pian dei Giullari area) are the result of reinvesting illegally accumulated income.

The businessman is under investigation for committing crimes in Ukraine related to corruption of public officials, fraud to the tune of over US$60 million against a Ukrainian state-owned agricultural product sales company, and money laundering.

The investigation revealed that by reinvesting part of the illicit proceeds through a Florence-based trust company, the Russian has acquired the entire capital of a company that possesses a vast luxury property complex in Florence.

The seized assets include shares in the company with a nominal value of €3 million and four properties worth almost €38 million.

As yet the Italian media have provided no further details about the businessman's identity.

A New York court has refused to allow the US Department of Justice to sell the Amadea, a superyacht said to belong to the sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.