Real estate, helicopter, money, jewelry, artwork
Property of businessman and architect arrested in Italy Lanfranco Cirillowho designed the “palace” near Gelendzhik, reported La Stampa and La Repubblica.
The property of the architect worth €141 million was arrested as part of the investigation: Cirillo was suspected of committing tax crimes. According to the Italian Financial Guard, the businessman did not declare income in the amount of “tens of millions of euros” between 2013 and 2019.
The press release also said that the investigation began after the discovery in the province of Brescia of a Russian-registered helicopter, in respect of which customs procedures had not been completed.
Among the seized property are real estate, a helicopter, bank accounts, cash, jewelry, works of art, including paintings by Picasso, Cezanne, Kandinsky, de Chirico, as well as other luxury goods, writes La Repubblica.
Cirillo’s lawyers said back in February that the businessman could submit documents and testimonies that would confirm that his income was received outside of Italy and, accordingly, should not have been taxed by it. “I am surprised that I had to deal with such a problem after living in Russia for over 20 years,” Cirillo told Giornale di Brescia. He then noted that he was cooperating with the authorities and would continue to do so until his position “is fully explained.”
Chirillo rose to prominence in Russia after Reuters reported in 2014 that he was the alleged architect of a resort complex near Gelendzhik. In the same year, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave him Russian citizenship.
The resort complex in question is an oppositionist Alexey Navalnynow aboutserving a sentence in a colony, called “Putin’s palace.” Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov stressed that the object has nothing to do with the Kremlin and is owned by individuals.
January 2021 called himself the beneficiary of the complex near Gelendzhik billionaire Arkady Rotenberg. He stated that he did not immediately say that he owns this complex, because of the “purely human factor.” There was a scandal around the buildings, “they write insinuations,” although “there is nothing illegal there,” the businessman noted. According to Rotenberg, he plans to build an apart-hotel on the site.
Cirillo confirmedwho was the architect of the complex near Gelendzhik. According to the businessmanhe carried out a project commissioned by a Moscow company “StroyGazConsulting”.