Vladimir Chernukhin
Vladimir Anatolyevich Chernukhin (; born 31 December 1968) is a Russian former deputy is a Russian former deputy minister of finance and former Chairman of a Russian state-owned development corporation Vnesheconombank. Chernukhin's wife Lubov Chernukhin has donated over two million pounds to UK Conservative party making her the largest female political donor in British history. Though UK media, specifically The Times tried to label Chernukhin as "putin crony", factually Chernukhin had fled to the UK after Vladimir Putin dismissed him in 2004 and he is known to be a loyalist to former Russian prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov , who in 2005 became an opponent of Putin. Career in Russia. Chernukhin was born in Moscow. Chernukhin holds a Doctorate in economics from the Moscow Finance Academy and undergraduate degrees in diplomacy and economics. From 1986 to 1996, Chernukhin worked in the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR and similarly with the Russian government. Between 1987 and 1989 Chernukhin completed military service in the Soviet Army. Upon finishing military service Chernukhin began working at Tekhnopromimport, a Soviet organisation that engaged in foreign trade and as such was closely linked with Soviet secret services. In 1996, Chernukhin left Tekhnopromimport and  joined Vnesheconombank (VEB), a Russian state development corporation, as deputy director of the department of credits and guarantees. In 1998, Chernukhin was promoted from deputy head of the department of credits and guarantees to head the bank's credit department for one year before being appointed deputy Chairman of the bank in September 1999. In 2000, he was appointed as Russia's deputy finance minister. Two years later he became the chairman of Vnesheconombank, a Russian state development corporation. He was dismissed from that position in 2004 and consequently he moved to the UK in 2004. Personal life. In 2007 , Vladimir married Lubov Chernukhin, a former banker. As on April 2022, she is the largest female political donor in British history having donated over £2 million to the Conservative Party. Chernukhin holds both British and Russian citizenships. According to The Guardian, while providing evidence in a 2018 legal case Chernukhin acknowledged that it has been “modus operandi” to disguise his commercial interests. He spoke of using “fronts”, “camouflage”, and “silent participation” in specific commercial deals, adding: “I want to be invisible". Emigration to the United Kingdom. Chernukhin fled to the UK after Vladimir Putin dismissed him in 2004. This  happened immediately after the arrest of his subordinate former official of the Ministry of Finance Denis Mikhailov, who was involved in foreign debt issues and accused of bribery and disclosure of state secrets about the sale of debts to Czechoslovakia. It was later reported that Chernukhin was to be a witness in this trial. As per the media reports, Chernukhin since then is known to be a loyalist to former Russian prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who in 2005 became an opponent of Putin. There is also a rival opinion, mostly prevalent in Russia that his decision to leave Russia was  due to the fact that he could be prosecuted for illegal scheming at the time when he was responsible for the settlement of sovereign debts to Russia while working for the Ministry of Finance. In 2019, was reported that Nat Rothschild, the City financier, allegedly provided Chernukhin with a £275,000-a-year post in 2004 but the remuneration did not require him to do any work. Together with his wife Chernukhin owns luxury property across the UK through offshore companies – a country estate in Oxfordshire worth £10 million, a £30 million townhouse overseeing London’s Regent’s  park, and a building in London’s affluent Mayfair district, estimated at £38 million. While certain sources alleged that Chernukhin was embroiled in a criminal case around a Russian Finance Ministry official who was accused of accepting a bribe there is no record of any legal proceedings against Chernukhin. Controversies. Vnesheconombank. In 2002, Chernukhin became the chairman of Vnesheconombank. During his chairmanship, Vnesheconombank monopolised the right to use Russians’ pension savings for investments. It has later been reported that Chernukhin could have used the opaque pension reform to siphon money for personal gain. During this time Russian Government allegedly  used Vnesheconombank to expand state control of media outlets through direct investment. In the year 2004 Chernukhin received the Order of Honor from the President of the Russian Federation. He was removed from the Chairmanship of Vnesheconombank in the same year and consequently he fled to the UK. Litigation with Oleg Deripaska. In 2018, Chernukhin got involved in litigation against his former common-law wife Lolita Vladimirovna and Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Chernukhin demanded that Mr. Deripaska buy out his stake in Moscow-based Trekhgornaya Manufaktura, for which, as Chernukhin himself claimed, he had paid £5 million in 2002 , at the time when he was Deputy Minister of Finance. FinCEN investigation. In 2020, BBC reporters uncovered US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) documents that showed that Chernukhin had received $8 million (£6.1 million) from Suleyman Kerimov, a Russian oligarch with close ties to President Putin. Kerimov is a member of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament. He has been under investigation in France over allegations of tax fraud since 2016 and in 2018 he was sanctioned by the US authorities. A leak of banks' "suspicious activity reports" shows Chernukhin was sent the money in 2016 from  a British Virgin Islands company linked to Kerimov. The $8 million payment to Chernukhin was made by an offshore company called Definition Services, which was controlled by Mr Kerimov's children. As per the concerned documents the funding came from their father and it was Kerimov who had the personal relationship with Chernukhin. It is alleged that later some of that money may have been used by Lyubov Chernukhina to make the £1.5 million donation to the Conservative party. Pandora Papers investigation. In October 2021, the Guardian published an article about Chernukhin and his wife based on the  Pandora Papers. Leaked files revealed the ‘extraordinary reliance of Chernukhins on the hidden offshore world, and the remarkable length that the couple goes to keep their wealth and financial arrangements secret instructing lawyers over a tax authority dispute that spanned France, Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands (BVI).