Oligarchs named and shamed in Commons
ARSENAL shareholder Alisher Usmanov was yesterday named and shamed in the House of Commons.
The oligarch’s wealth has been estimated at more than £9.5billion thanks to a vast business empire which began with manufacturing plastic bags.
As the Soviet Union collapsed, he made a fortune by investing in state-owned metal and mining companies as they were sold off.
He headed Gazprom Investholding, a subsidiary of the world’s biggest extractor of natural gas Gazprom, from 2000 to 2014 and still owns a stake in iron ore and steel giant Metalloinvest.
He also owns the Moscow newspaper Kommersant and a telecoms company. Mr Usmanov invested in Arsenal in 2007, and he now owns 30 per cent of the North London club. Born in Uzbekistan when it was part of the Soviet Union, Mr Usmanov, pictured, hoped to become a diplomat, but was jailed in 19 0 for fraud and corruption.
He served six years but the Uzbek supreme court later quashed the conviction, ruling that the case had been politically motivated.
Now 64, he has spoken of his pride at his friendship with Vladimir Putin, saying: ‘I am proud that I know Putin, and the fact that everybody does not like him is not Putin’s problem.’ IGOR Shuvalov, also named and shamed in the Commons yesterday, is Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister.
He is responsible for federal budget and economic policies, and he is effectively the third most powerful man in Russia after Mr Putin and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev. He is said to have bought a vast £11.4million sixbedroom penthouse flat just 350 yards from 10 Downing Street.
He has also used a £3 million private jet which, according to a Kremlin critic, he used to transport his wife Olga’s corgis to dog shows in Europe. It was not clear whether Mr Shuvalov owned the jet.
Mr Shuvalov, pictured, who played a key role in Russia’s successful bid to secure the 201 World Cup, has said that his fortune was earned honestly as a lawyer and businessman before he joined the government, and repeatedly denied there was anything improper about his business activities.
Critics say he invested heavily in the state gas company Gazprom in the 2000s while making policy decisions on state firms. But no conflict of interest has been proven. One of his children was reported yesterday to have been given a coveted place in the Bolshoi Ballet despite critics noting she had a ‘non-classical’ body.