Russian prosecutor's family's holdings in Montenegro: Millions

According to Montenegrin institutions, the family of Moscow's chief prosecutor Denis Popova owns valuable real estate in Montenegro. Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny published allegations on his blog that Irina Popova, the ex-wife of a high-ranking Russian official, owns expensive real estate in several locations in Montenegro. Navalny accused Popova and his ex-wife of illegal enrichment, pointing out that they own millions of dollars worth of real estate in Montenegro and Spain without actually covering it. According to Navalny, during the period when his wife founded the companies that purchased the said real estate in Montenegro (from 2009 to 2016), Prosecutor Popov's family lived on his salary of 57,000 rubles, i.e. a little over 800 euros.

According to the Montenegrin Real Estate Office, Denis Popov's wife's company, Monte Biser, registered in Herceg Novi, owns a building with 296 square meters of apartments and a 700 square meters yard in Morinjo in Boko Kotor Bay, as well as an 8,000 square meter plot of land in Jezeriny near Kolasin, about 70 kilometers north of Podgorica. Popovs' second firm, Stroyproekt, is registered in Bar, about 50 kilometers south of Podgorica, and owns 1,230 square meters of land in Dobra Voda, a coastal location near Bar.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Denis Popov as Moscow's Prosecutor General by personal decree in September this year.

Radio Free Europe (RSE) sent an inquiry to the Montenegrin Office for the Prevention of Money Laundering asking whether they have monitored the cash flows and activities of the companies Monte Biser and Stroyproekt, owned by Irina Popova, and whether they have registered any suspicious transactions. No response has been received yet.

Also, questions that the RSE sent to the Monte Biser company through the lawyer Svetlana Vujacic Pinkiewicz, who previously represented the legal interests of the company, remained unanswered. Ivo Magud, Secretary for Finance of the Kotor administration, said that Monte Biser, which rents apartments in Donjem Morinho, a settlement in this area of the Boko Kotor Bay, has paid real estate and property tax and has had no outstanding liabilities for the last three years.

Irina Popov's neighbor in Doñem Morinho, Gordana Seferovic Radenkovic, who lives next to the building that Irina Popov owns, says she has met the first 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 right next to their building, which they rent out in the summer, and we haven't had any problems with them so far. In the winter, as far as I know, no one is there. I think it's closed in winter, but in summer, according to my observations, most of the guests are Russians, although there are others," says Gordana.

It is reported from the Directorate for Improvement and Construction of Kotor that the company Monte Biser owes them for the communal arrangement of facilities and land for construction. The account of this company is not blocked, according to Sanja Uljarevic, spokesperson of the directorate: "Their current debt is 14,256 euros and they are obliged to pay the fees for the communal arrangement of facilities and land. They are not in blocking mode because we informed them about the beginning of debt repayment. They have always paid regularly but they left €20,000 as a debt to have a substation built on that land where they have a facility because they did not have a connection for their facilities. This year they paid 6,000, so there are 14,000 left that they need to pay," says Uljarevic.

In addition to the building with 9 apartments in Morinho, the Monte Bisere company is building several properties at an altitude of 1,500 meters, near the ski area at Bjelasitsa. Navalny claims that they were planning to build a villa-hotel, restaurant and spa complex on this property, and that the properties on Jeserins are encumbered with a lien for a loan from the founder of the offshore company Keystone ICG in the amount of 554,000 euros.

Dragana Šćepanović, a journalist from Kolasina, tells RFE that she received information today from the city's Secretariat of Finance that Iryna Popova's firm has paid off years of tax debts. However, the authorities did not say what the amount of the previous debt was: "The firm Monte Biser was one of the investors from whom much was expected in Kolasin. It is known that this company is the owner of 8 thousand square meters of land in the place Palevine, next to the ski center "Kolasin 1450", and that they bought this piece of land from private individuals. In addition, this company is known for having obtained a building permit illegally in 2010, after which it was canceled by construction and town planning inspectors, explaining that the permit was signed by an illegally authorized person. It was said that the permit was restored, but this information has not yet been confirmed. Now we can see the works on the site, but the project is far from being completed," Shchepanovich says.

"It is unclear where the funds for these investments came from," Navalny points out on his blog. Relaying highlights from Navalny's investigation into the Popova family's assets in Montenegro, Vesti from Podgorica also publishes his claims 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 was together: "In other words, all these investments in Montenegro were planned and carried out by the full family of the current prosecutor, official and law enforcement representative. But it is not clear where the funds for these investments came from," Navalny points out in his blog.

The case of the Popov family is not the only one. According to Kommersant journalist Gennady Sisoev, when it comes to high government officials from Russia who have been publicized as owning property worth millions abroad, almost all previous cases show that they hide valuable assets abroad by transferring the property to their closest relatives, most often wives, whom they actually divorce in order to disguise their wealth. Sisoyev doubts that the Russian prosecutor's office will take up Popov's case: "Two Moscow Duma deputies have demanded an investigation into the story of prosecutor Popov's wealth abroad, and the state has already spoken out. The Kremlin spokesman, Mr. Dmitry Peskov, said that Prosecutor Popov was subject to a very serious vetting process when he was appointed, and since he passed that vetting process and was elected Prosecutor General of Moscow, he is legitimate. I doubt that the Russian prosecutor's office will take a different view on this issue than the state," Sisoev said. Alexei Navalny's text indicates that in addition to real estate in Montenegro, Denis Popov's then unemployed wife bought an apartment in Marbella, Spain, in 2010. Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Denis Popov as Moscow's chief prosecutor by personal decree in September of this year.