W5: The mind-boggling wealth and privilege of Russian oligarchs

welcome back they can spend in seconds what would take most of us a lifetime to earn russian oligarchs have mind-boggling wealth but they are now global economic pariahs who risk losing their fortunes to the west and if they speak out their lives to the kremlin [Music] this is the life of the super rich not the millionaires or even the billionaires but the tens of billionaires they're not the one percenters they are the 0.1 percenters forget private planes they have private air buses they don't have yachts they have super yachts with helicopter landing pads and houses how about a nearly 250 million dollar palatial estate with the future king of england as your neighbor this is russian oligarch level rich it's just eye-watering it's it's not a world i can even possibly imagine the private jets the incredible restaurants the amount of money that's spent on things like clothing and stuff it's not a world that you and i even remotely can imagine being a part of jodi vittori is a former lieutenant colonel in the u.s air force she specializes in terrorism financing she served on nato's counter-corruption task force and is now a professor at georgetown university in washington d.c her area of expertise corruption and illicit finance the term filthy rich has never felt more apt i can't even wrap my head around the kind of money that we're talking about that these people have we're talking multiples of billions of dollars we're talking about amazing real estate in you know a place to stay when you're in manhattan a place to stay when you're in london a place to stay when you're in dubai and where better to brag about your wealth than instagram this account rich russian kids with more than a million and a half followers offers a disturbing glimpse into the wealth and the waste it's amazing how often we find oligarchs and the kids and the family members of oligarchs jet skiing in dubai or their shopping trip in paris and putting the pictures up in public everywhere where they can be geo-located and they could be identified and we can show that you know that shopping trip was way more than daddy's income for 10 years and so clearly there's another source of income somewhere if there is a poster boy of the russian oligarch club it is this man roman abramovich once worth 29 billion with a b dollars the spoils of his riches have included the chelsea soccer team one of the world's biggest super yachts worth more than half a billion dollars a boeing dreamliner and a fleet of high-end cars abramovic has business dealings in canada so too does oleg daraposka a billionaire who made his money off aluminum he's the owner of mega yachts and high-end real estate in the us uk and europe and then there's billionaire alisher uzmanov known as one of vladimir putin's favorite oligarchs he's amassed a treasure trove of toys including this super yacht personal airbus and this extravagant home in london the top 10 russian oligarchs are estimated to have a net worth of a staggering 232 billion dollars but just what is an oligarch anyway the definition of an oligarch is actually a really old term it actually goes back to the ancient greek philosopher aristotle and it really means rule by just a few who make sure that they can get immensely wealthy off of being in charge of the government how were these oligarchs made how did they get this almost unfathomable amount of wealth originally they got most of their wealth when the soviet union fell [Music] just a few short years after the fall of the soviet union in 1991 russia's once state-run crown jewels got doled out like candy to a small group of men as the economy fell there was a mass privatization of many of russia's assets it's rich in natural resources oil natural gas and so these industries were often privatized very very quickly with very poor levels of rule of law sometimes for pennies on the dollar it's extraordinary that as the world was hailing the fall of the ussr that there was this perception that democracy was going to rain really it became the fertile grounds for privatization and essentially a president who doled out you know industries like you take construction you take natural resources as though they were you know pennies and not not billions true and that's how a kleptocracy works when we talk about rule by thieves most of these in guys they're mostly guys didn't get rich because they invented a better light bulb or something like that they got handed these sweetheart deals for pennies in the dollar often with no competitors and were able to flip those properties later on in return for providing those services that putin needs different oligarchs will provide different services back to the putin regime so the system doesn't work unless both sides of that are there that putin can provide that impunity and that wealth and then in return that different oligarchs can provide different services when called upon there's almost this social contract between putin and the oligarchs i'll let you get away with whatever you want but you owe me and if you if you turn your back on me there's going to be a price to pay absolutely and a number of oligarchs have found that price to pay it could be because you have turned on putin it could just be you're out of favor for some reason that day and suddenly your wealth is gone you might find yourself in jail you might find yourself dead it's a very shaky situation to be part of this inner regime but the benefits are so high that a number of individuals of this .01 percent of russia have agreed to make that trade that fear of a volatile putin taking away their riches is why so many oligarchs have moved their billions outside of the country yachts planes real estate are also easy ways to launder billions and true identities are often cloaked through shell companies real estate is an exceptionally good way to launder large amounts of money that you'll see these amazing buildings with amazing views but almost no lights on because they either only live there a few weeks a year or they don't actually live there at all it's all part of a major money laundering scheme what i don't understand is if you're in the business of laundering your dirty money why flash it around so much with these ridiculous mansions these palaces these yachts these private planes is there any part of an oligarch that is low-key if they are we probably don't know about them because it's it's part of the flashiness that makes them the oligarchs they are the bulk of their billions isn't even in russia how complicit is the west in allowing dirty money to fuel the local economies unfortunately the west is exceptionally responsible for how this wealth got there i mean 60 of of oligarchs wealth from russia didn't just accidentally show up in the west it got there on purpose the united kingdom with its famous london grad that it's so easy to be engaged in hiding illicit wealth in london but the united states as well aspects of germany aspects of the united arab emirates lots of states out there have made it exceptionally easy for any sort of illicit money or bad people to hide their money in their countries but not all of russia's riches have been moved out of the country president putin has kept a very large stash all for himself this video is from a russian anti-corruption organization that claims to have discovered putin's secret one billion dollar palace nearing completion off the black sea from the elaborate pool and theater with balconies to the hookah lounge complete with a stripper pole every room is adorned with a classic russian symbol of a double-headed eagle the anti-corruption foundation known as fbk was created by russian opposition leader alexei navalny he was poisoned twice and is currently jailed in russia for trying to expose corruption inside the kremlin vladimir azurkov is the director of navalny's foundation based in london your investigations have revealed a plethora of photographs of putin's secret palace how did you get those photographs part of the video footage we shot from drones part of it was used based on schematics that we received from a whistleblower that's how we collected the data and anybody who views our videos can really picture this billion dollar palace in the south of russia themselves it's not just putin's palace fbk has also pinpointed what it says is one of putin's very expensive toys tell me about this most recent investigation and putin's yacht well i identified this yacht which is valued at over 500 million dollars so you can imagine the size it is moored in italy we believe that this yacht has been used and has been built for president vladimir putin we know the kind of vengeance that putin can have against those who he deems to be traitors it's extraordinary that people are feeding you information whistleblowing given the penalty that they could face indeed it's dangerous work we understand that uh russian security services can probably undertake operations in any place in the world and we don't have to look further than alexi navalny himself that was poisoned and then illegally incarcerated after his return to russia so our investigative team takes reasonable precautions but carries on with their lives do the people in russia see this and what's their reaction to the fact that so few have so much the average salary in russia is about 500 per month and at the same time russia has produced dozens of billionaires more than other countries with similar economic development so of course people are not happy with the inequality when there is conspicuous consumption on behalf of some largest business people yet the yachts the planes the mansions we have been advocating personal sanctions for years if the west would have been more belligerent encountering putin's assertiveness and sanctions we might have avoided this catastrophe of russia's brutal aggression against ukraine that started a little over a month ago [Music] coming up punishing the oligarchs we are imposing further severe sanctions when w5 continues [Music] these are the spoils of the super rich now the super sanctioned russian oligarch mega yachts seized in france italy spain and most recently at canary wharf in london off the coast of turkey this david and goliath scene played out as members of the ukrainian junior sailing team blocked the path of this super yacht owned by roman abramovich i say to the russian oligarchs and the corrupt leaders who built billions of dollars off this violent regime no more we're coming for you ill-begotten gains u.s president joe biden announcing sanctions against russian oligarchs in step with countries around the world including canada today in light of russia's reckless and dangerous military strike we are imposing further severe sanctions but it isn't just governments freezing and seizing regular citizens are getting in on the action too squatters stormed this mansion in london unfurling a ukrainian flag and a banner this property has been liberated the home is reportedly linked to billionaire oleg deripaska they videotaped as they roamed through the seven-bedroom home worth an estimated 66 million dollars a lot of vladimir putin's own wealth which is estimated to be somewhere in the range of 200 and 250 billion dollars a lot of this money is being held by the oligarchs and hidden abroad in countries like canada the united states the united kingdom to help putin maintain that wealth russia expert marcus colga is with ottawa's mcdonald laurier institute he was instrumental in the passage of canadian legislation in 2017 that allows this country to sanction the oligarchs is canada a country that is a safe haven for the dirty money of these oligarchs well there are a number of countries that are a safe haven for that money that a lot of them are offshore um cyprus is a known uh safe haven for that money the united kingdom london a lot of the real estate there is a safe haven for that oligarch money canada unfortunately is also a destination for russian oligarch money there are at least three or four well-known russian oligarchs who have several billion dollars stashed away in this country and we know it it's in plain sight here is what we know about oligarch money in canada russia's most famous and infamous oligarch roman abramovich is the largest shareholder of evra's plc which owns western canada's biggest steel company he owns 28 of that company that same company has five plants in western canada they were purchased in around 2004-2005 for over 2 billion and so that's an important name to have on our sanctions list because roman abramovich is also being identified as being very close to vladimir putin then there's oleg derapaska the aluminum oligarch who's made headlines in toronto with this report that he owns a minority stake in a company that won almost a billion dollars worth of construction deals involving subway tunneling and a water treatment project in toronto and there's more an agricultural company that deals in tractors bueller industries that's owned by a large russian concern rostelmash and there's a russian oligarch who bought into the alberta oil patch a former russian senator named vitaly malkin who made a lot of his wealth in dealing in diamonds and the weapons trade in africa and had hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate assets right here in toronto in fact do you believe that russian oligarchs have money in this country that are not being sanctioned by canada it's entirely possible because we know top oligarchs have assets in this country i am certain that there are several other oligarchs who have assets in this country but we just don't know about it how difficult is it to track down whether or not a russian oligarch is behind a shell behind a shell behind a shell company that's involved in business in canada extremely difficult it would take leaked documents some very sophisticated financial tracking methods to find that out but for a government that hasn't dedicated the resources to doing that or law enforcement that doesn't have the resources to do that it's going to be very difficult to track down those assets while the world hunts down those russian assets president putin has some harsh words for russians who haven't been supportive enough of his regime i do not at all judge those who have a villa in miami or on the french riviera who can't do without foie gras oysters or the so-called gender freedoms such people are ready to sell their own mother the russian people will be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traders the fact that he goes on television to say to them listen you stick in line with me or else there's going to be trouble every time new sanctions are announced whether it's the us or canada vladimir putin appears on media and goes ballistic that very allergic reaction to sanctions is a demonstration of how effective they really are it is a bill designed to force change in the south african apartheid policy when we look back in history and look at apartheid in south africa and the global community slapping sanctions on that country and bringing about an end to apartheid do you see a parallel to what's happening now with russia absolutely sanctions worked in the case of apartheid we can bring about that change to a certain degree i think with the current conflict in ukraine if we have the courage we find the courage to expand the sanctions listen to russian activists who are constantly telling us that we need to expand the sanctions when you say that sanctions need to be beefed up that there needs to be more what should be done next we need to cut off all oil all oil and gas we need to help our european allies with that that means canada supplying canadian gas to our european friends to make sure that they have a reliable and safe source for that gas so that they can wean themselves off of russia and why this is important is because russia itself 50 of its income depends on the sale of oil and gas 50 50 so he vladimir putin really relies on this as a source of income while we're here uh sitting in your home talking about sanctions uh against russia i'm right across from someone who's got a sanction placed on him from russia how on earth have you been sanctioned uh by russia this is the sort of intimidation that vladimir putin engages in to try and silence his critics i've been working on advancing and promoting sanctions against russia and all other global human rights abusers for the past you know 10 years marcus colga was in ottawa watching ukrainian president vladimir zelinski address parliament earlier this year together we will overcome and will be victorious glory to ukraine thank you to canada [Applause] after that speech i went for a coffee with the lithuanian ambassador he was taking a call i was looking on twitter and journalist justin ling had tweeted out that the russian government had released this list of of individuals up for their sanctions list and identified me and when you saw that tweet saying that your name had been listed along with others as being targeted by putin what goes through your mind when you're named to a list like that by vladimir putin you're you're always going to be a little bit nervous i'm uh i'm concerned obviously for the safety of my family i don't think that anything serious will come of this but there's always that little kernel of of concern that's there when you're critical of vladimir putin right now canada's legislation only allows freezing the funds of oligarchs but there is a new bill working its way through the legislature that would grant powers to seize that money [Music] you

Channel: Official W5

Views: 1,607,388

Keywords: W5, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Russian oligarchs, oligarchy, documentary, Russian money in Canada, Russia-Ukraine war, Soviet Union

Id: jau12r-jIK4

Length: 21min 44sec (1304 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 03 2022