Russian presidential candidate accused of hiding gold abroad

Mr. Pavel Grudinin. Photo: Moscow Times

News agencyTASSquoted Mr. Aleksandr Kinev, member of the Central Election Commission of Russia, today March 5 said: "The Federal Tax Service contacted the Swiss authorities and colleagues and said that, in addition to the two bank accounts we mentioned, Mr. Pavel Grudinin has 11 other accounts. As of December 31, 2017, Mr. Pavel Grudinin had 13 accounts in Swiss banks."

“The information we have from our Swiss colleagues is that Mr. Grudinin has various assets in his accounts. One of those accounts is for precious metals, especially gold,” the official added.

However, Mr. Aleksandr Kinev also noted that the above accounts were counted by Swiss authorities from December 31 onwards. “However, on January 13, Mr. Pavel Grudinin reported that he did not own any such accounts,” he said.

News pageLife.rualso said today that it had information proving that Mr. Grudinin was a client of UBS and AG banks. In addition to depositing cash in various foreign currencies, this candidate is said to have deposited about 5.4 kg of gold bars here.

Mr Kinev added that the issue of Mr Grudinin's foreign assets will be discussed at a meeting of the Central Election Commission on March 7.

Mr. Grudinin is the director and major shareholder of a large agricultural company outside Moscow. During his election campaign, Mr. Grudinin said that capital flight should be stopped, and urged Russian investors to bring their money back home instead of depositing it in American and European banks.

Information about the offshore accounts, if confirmed, would be detrimental to Mr Grudinin's campaign.