Central Bank is keeping a keen eye on oligarchs’ billions that wash through Dublin

The washing of Russian money through Ireland has long attracted the attention of security forces and the Central Bank - the agency responsible for imposing EU financial sanctions.

The sanctions package adopted by the European Union last week includes restrictive measures targeted at a number of individuals and entities, and on economic activity in areas of Ukraine under Russian control.

They will be implemented through the Central Bank, and firms and financial institutions need to monitor the names and list of entities under approval.

According to the Central Bank, if a transaction generates a 'hit' with an approved person or entity, the asset should be immediately frozen, and the transaction should be stopped.

Violations of all attempts at sanctions are reported to the National Economic Offenses Bureau of En Garda Ciocana, which in turn disseminates the information through international police agencies.

Dáil was told last week that Ireland was becoming a "funnel" for the dirty money of Russian oligarchs.

Labor Party leader Alan Kelly said an estimated €118bn flowed through the International Financial Services Center (IFSC) to Russian entities from 2005 to 2017.

The oligarch is using Section 110 companies - special purpose vehicles - that pay minimal tax and are not transparent.

Finance Minister Pascal Donohoe said that "a level of Russian capital trades in and out of our IFSC" simply because Ireland had a large financial services sector. Money laundering laws have been tightened and tax laws have been changed.

A research paper identified 125 Section 110 firms with Russian connections. A Section 110 firm was used to raise $9.2bn for the Russian State Development Bank VEB between 2010 and 2013.

Prominent Russian investors here include Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and cyber security expert Eugene Kaspersky, who has consistently denied ties with the Kremlin.

Mr. Deripaska is the owner of the En+ group, which also includes Rusal, the global aluminum company, which in turn owns the Oghnish alumina plant in the Shannon Estuary. 450 people are employed in this business.

Although he has not been named in the latest round of sanctions, he was one of 23 prominent Russian oligarchs and government officials affected by sanctions in April 2018, imposed by Washington in response to Moscow's 2014 invasion of Crimea. There were solutions.

The Financial Times reported that the US Treasury accused him of money laundering for Mr Putin - which was denied.

When he went out of business the sanctions against his companies were lifted. In 2020, European officials concluded that Mr Deripaska was still running Rusal in breach of sanctions.

Mr Deripaska said the sanctions have resulted in "the complete destruction of their wealth, prestige and economic livelihood."

Last year, the FBI raided two properties linked to him.

Eugene Kaspersky, owner of Kaspersky Lab, a cyber security business, opened a Dublin office in 2016.

The US later banned government agencies from using Kaspersky products.

Mr Kaspersky told the Financial Times in 2020 that it was "absurdly ridiculous" to assume that just because he was brought to Russia "my company and I should be close friends with Russian intelligence agencies".

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