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'Corrupt'
Putin owns palace worth 600 mn pounds: Businessman
Wednesday February 16, 2011 06:29:12 PM,
IANS
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London: A businessman
has accused Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of having a
lavish 600 million pounds ($970 million) palace, which he built
for himself near a Black Sea resort with the proceeds of
"corruption, bribery and theft", a media report said.
The claim, made in a letter to Russian president Dmitry Medvedev,
was boosted Monday after the Novaya Gazeta newspaper obtained,
what it said, was an authenticated copy of the original contract
for the palace signed in 2005 by Vladimir Kozhin, the Russian
presidential property manager, The Telegraph reported.
Putin, who is presently Russian prime minister, was country's
president at the time.
Set in 74 hectares of prime land near the Black Sea coast with its
own vineyard, the palace is reported to be almost eight million
square feet and has its own helipad.
The palace's other features include a summer amphitheatre, a
casino, an indoor cinema, swimming pools, a gym and a clock tower.
The businessman, Sergei Kolesnikov, who claims the palace belongs
to Putin, has likened the structure to a palace built for Russia's
Tsars outside St. Petersburg.
He said that the Russian prime minister had personally approved
the design and materials.
Kolesnikov has called on President Medvedev to investigate his
controversial claim.
"A palace is being built on the Black Sea coast for the personal
use of the Russian prime minister," Kolesnikov wrote in his
original letter.
"As things stand, the cost of the palace is $1 billion. The funds
were mostly raised through a combination of corruption, bribery
and theft," he said.
He further stated in his letter to the President that it was in
President Medvedev's powers, to show ordinary Russians that
everyone was equal before the law including Putin.
Putin's spokesman has, however, dismissed the allegation out of
hand, as has Kozhin, the Kremlin official whose signature
allegedly appeared on the original contract.
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