A new bus tour shows off billionaire expats’ fabulous mansions.
It’s called the
Kleptocracy Tour. Organized by a coalition of anticorruption think tanks
and NGOs, London’s newest bus tour rolls past the opulent homes of
under-the-radar oligarchs living in (or at least investing in)
splendorous British properties.
Tourists onboard can take pictures of the Witanhurst
mansion, valued at an estimated $450 million, owned by fertilizer baron
Andrey Guryev. Or the $16 million apartment in Whitehall Court owned by
Russian deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov. According to Putin
antagonist Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, the apartment
costs approximately 100 times Shuvalov’s official annual salary.
Other stops are more mysterious. There are 36,000
properties in London that are registered to offshore companies.
According to Transparency International, one in 10 buildings in
Westminster, the political heart of the city, has an owner whose
identity is concealed.
The tour’s creator, anticorruption activist Roman
Borisovich, started the initiative after futilely campaigning for a
public registry documenting the ultimate beneficial owners of London’s
offshore companies. His aim, he says, is not just to call out oligarchs
but also “to shine the light on those businessmen who derive their
fortunes from [them].” Up next? He’s taking the operation to Miami and
New York.
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