US commerce secretary may sell stake in Russia-linked firm

WASHINGTON: United States Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Monday said he probably would not keep his holdings in a shipping company with business ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and that he had fully and properly disclosed investments.

Pressed on whether he would retain the interest in Navigator Holdings, Ross told Bloomberg Television: “I’ve been actually selling it anyway, but that isn’t because of this.”

Ross, a billionaire investor who is helping to shape President Donald Trump’s trade policy, was criticised when several media outlets reported that he had failed to disclose that one of Navigator’s clients was Russian gas and petrochemical company Sibur.

Sibur’s owners include Putin’s son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov, and Gennady Timchenko, a Putin associate who is subject to US Treasury sanctions.

The information is based on leaked documents from offshore law firm Appleby that are part of the so-called “Paradise Papers”, which show details of business dealings by wealthy people and institutions ranging from Ross to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and trading firm Glencore.

Ross said in multiple media interviews that he had fully disclosed his stake in Navigator Holdings as part of government ethics requirements.

“There was disclosure, there is no impropriety and if people draw a contrary conclusion that’s because the papers have twisted the story and made it into something that’s not there,” Ross told the BBC. Reuters