Putin to make a fortune from London f lats
VLADIMIR PUTIN is set to make hundreds of millions of pounds from a luxury development in an exclusive area of London, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Russia is building 255 flats on a site in Kensington it bought in 2006 for £8million using an offshore company. It is planning to use the vast profits from the scheme to refurbish its embassy properties in the capital.
But documents seen by this newspaper show that any ‘surplus remaining’ will go to the Kremlin.
The MoS can also reveal a Moscow-based banker convicted of corruption appears to have been closely involved in the development.
Elena Kotova is named in the planning applications to Kensington and Chelsea Council. She lost her job at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) because she was convicted of corruption for seeking a £1million bribe in Moscow in 2014.
The UK National Crime Agency also concluded that Kotova had solicited bribes to greenlight projects at EBRD from 2005 to 2011 and seized her £1.5million London apartment as well as £230,000 in cash. She maintains her innocence.
Land Registry documents show the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a state-owned bank bought the land to be developed at 245 Warwick Road, Kensington. It is controlled through a complicated structure. Since 2008 there have been numerous planning applications submitted for the site, which Kensington and Chelsea Council approved in 2012.
Based on similar developments, the Kremlin stands to turn its £8million investment into hundreds of millions of pounds.
The news that Moscow is profiting from property speculation in the UK while fighting an expensive war in Ukraine will inevitably cause dismay.
This year, oligarchs with close ties to President Putin have been hit by sanctions.
Elsewhere in London, the Kremlin’s properties include at least 12 flats and houses in central London. Its portfolio is estimated at £100million. The Russian Embassy did not respond to a request to comment.