Russian prosecutor's multi-million dollar assets in Montenegro

According to Montenegrin organizations, the family of Moscow's chief prosecutor Denis Popov owns valuable real estate in Montenegro. Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny published allegations on his blog two days ago that the ex-wife of a high-ranking Russian official, Irina Popova, owns expensive real estate in several locations in Montenegro. Navalny accused Popov and his ex-wife of illegal enrichment, namely owning multimillion-dollar properties in Montenegro and Spain without real coverage. According to Navalny, during the period when his wife founded the companies that purchased the property in Montenegro (from 2009 to 2016), the four-member Popov family lived on his salary of 57,000 rubles, which is a little over 800 euros.

Per data from the Montenegrin Real Estate Office, the Monte Biser company owned by Denis Popov's wife is registered in Herceg Novi and owns a 296 square meter building, apartments and 700 square meters of yard in Morinho, in Boka Kotor Bay, as well as 8,000 square meters of land in Jezerinam, about 70 kilometers north of Podgorica. Popovs' second company, Strojprojekt, is registered in Bar, about 50 kilometers south of Podgorica, and owns 1,230 square meters in Dorboj Voda, close to the seaside town of Bar. Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Denis Popov as Moscow's chief prosecutor in September this year.

The documentation on Monte Biser and Strojprojekt was presented to the Kotor municipality's finance committee on November 12. Questions about the expected financial flows and their business activities of both companies, especially the main shareholder Irina Popova, as well as the possibility of detecting suspicious transactions, were asked in a Radio Slobodna Evropa (RSE) recommendation. However, a response has not yet been provided. RSE also reached out to Monte Biser through attorney Svitlana Vujacic Pinkiewicz for comment, but there was no response either. Ivo Magud, secretary for finance in Kotor municipality, told RSE that Monte Biser, which rents out apartments in Donjem Morinho, a settlement in that town, has paid real estate and property tax and has no outstanding liabilities for the past three years. Local resident Dona Morinja Gordana Seferovic Radenkovic, who lives near the building owned by Irina Popov, tells RSE that she has met her neighbors and confirms that the building is used for tourist purposes: "I met him (Popov) several times and we always greeted each other politely. We live next to their building that they rented out over the summer and we have had no problems with them. No one is here in the winter, as far as I can tell. I think it is closed in winter, and in summer most of the guests, as far as I have noticed, are Russian, although there are others," says Gordana.

There are debts, however. It is reported from the Kotor Planning and Construction Authority that Monte Biser owes money for the city's municipal infrastructure and land. According to Sanja Uljarevic, a spokeswoman for the department, the company's account has not been blocked. "Their current debt is 14,256 euros and they have to pay the utility and land fees. They are not on lockdown because we have informed them to start repaying the debt. They had been paying regularly all along, but left a debt of €20,000 for utility bills on the property where they have a facility to build a transformer substation, as they had no electricity supply for their facilities.

Besides the building with 9 apartments in Morin, Monte Biser is building several buildings at an altitude of 1,500 meters above sea level, next to the Jezerina ski center in Bjelasica. Navalny claims that there were plans to build a villa-hotel, restaurant and spa complex on the site, and that the property on Jezerinas is encumbered by a €554,000 mortgage from the founder of Keystone ICG, a company registered outside Montenegro. He suspects that prosecutor Denis Popov himself is hiding behind this company. Kolašina journalist Dragana Ščepanović tells RSE that today she received information from the local finance commission that Irina Popova's company has paid most of its long-term tax debts. However, the municipality did not disclose the exact amount of the debt: "Monte Biser was one of the investors from which much was expected in Colasin. It is known that this company owns 8,000 square meters of land in Paljeviny, next to the ski center 'Kolasin 1450', and that they bought this land from private individuals. Also, this company is known for having illegally obtained a building permit in 2010, after which it was revoked by the Building and Architectural Inspectorate on the grounds that the permit was signed by an unauthorized person. It was said that the permit had been reinstated, but that information has yet to be confirmed. What you can see now at the site is that some work has been resumed, but the project is far from complete," Ščepanović says.

"It is not clear with what funds these investments were financed," Navalny says on his blog. While relaying highlights from Navalny's research on the Popova family's property in Montenegro, Podgorica News also publishes his statement that old archived pages of Irina Popova's companies contain advertisements for the construction and sale of properties in Montenegro that first appeared in 2011, when the couple were together: "In other words, all these investments in Montenegro were planned and made by the full family of the current prosecutor, official and lawmaker. But it is not clear with what funds these investments were financed," Navalny says on his blog. The case of the Popov family is not unique. In the case of high-ranking Russian government officials, about whom data and information was provided about their ownership of multimillion-dollar real estate outside Russia, such cases are not uncommon, says journalist Gennady Sisoev. He notes that almost all previously known cases show that high-ranking government officials hide expensive real estate abroad, transferring the property to close relatives, most often to their wives, from whom they formally divorce to hide their wealth. Sisoev doubts that the Russian prosecutor's office will take up Popov's case: "Two deputies in the Moscow parliament said it was necessary to investigate prosecutor Popov's wealth abroad, and this also provoked a reaction from the state. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the checks were very serious when Popov was appointed, and since he went through the procedure and was chosen as Moscow's chief prosecutor, for them he is clean before the law. I doubt that the Russian prosecutor's office will take a different position on this case than the state," Sisoev says. Navalny's text indicates that in addition to real estate in Montenegro, Denis Popov's once unemployed wife purchased an apartment in Marbella, Spain, in 2010. Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Denis Popov as Moscow's chief prosecutor by personal decree in September this year.