Trump aide link to Putin
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has business ties to a shipping firm linked to Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, according to a vast leak of financial documents that also revealed Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II’s investments in tax havens, reports AFP.
It was also revealed that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top fundraiser and senior advisor Stephen Bronfman, heir to the Seagram fortune, moved some USD 60 million to offshore tax havens with ex-senator Leo Kolber.
The findings have emerged as part of the Paradise Papers released by the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which was behind the Panama Papers made public last year.
There is no suggestion that Ross, Bronfman or the queen’s private estate acted illegally. But Ross’s ties to Russian entities raise questions over potential conflicts of interest, and whether they undermine Washington’s sanctions on Moscow.
The revelations about Bronfman could spell trouble for Trudeau, who was elected two years ago riding on the coattails of promises to reduce economic
inequality and tax avoidance.
Ross, a billionaire investor, holds a 31 percent stake in Navigator Holdings through a complex web of offshore investments detailed in the documents examined by nearly 100 news organizations as part of an international collaboration.
Navigator Holdings runs a lucrative partnership with Russian energy giant Sibur, which is partially owned by Putin’s sonin-law Kirill Shamalov and Gennady Timchenko, the Russian president’s friend and business partner who is subject to US sanctions.
The US imposed sanctions on Russian entities and individuals following its annexation of Crimea and aggression in Ukraine. Ross’s private equity firm has been the biggest shareholder in Navigator.
His personal share of the firm’s stake was reduced when he took office in February, but the commerce chief ’s investment is still valued at between USD 2 million to USD 10 million, according to his security filings and government ethics disclosure.
The disclosures will put pressure on world leaders, including Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May, who have both pledged to curb aggressive tax avoidance schemes.