Navalny: Hockey Legend-Turned-Senator Fetisov Violating Offshore Assets Law
Opposition firebrand Alexey Navalny called Tuesday for the dismissal of hockey legend Slava Fetisov from Russia’s Federation Council, alleging that the senator owns offshore assets in Cyprus in violation of Russian law.
Navalny, the head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, uploaded to his blog a series of documents allegedly evidencing Fetisov’s ownership of shares in two Cypriot companies. The documents Navalny posted also allegedly show that Fetisov founded a company in Cyprus, a country known to be a popular tax haven among Russian businessmen. Navalny said that he obtained copies of the posted documents from Cypriot officials.
In May 2013, President Vladimir Putin approved legislation forbidding high-ranking government officials from owning assets abroad, including shares in foreign-based companies. Government officials were given until August 2013 to sell their offshore assets.
Failure to comply with the law should result in the termination of official employment, according to the law.
Navalny said his Anti-Corruption Foundation and his opposition Progress Party had appealed to several government bodies, including the Federation Council and the prosecutor general, to have Fetisov dismissed.
Russian officials have yet to comment on the allegations.
Fetisov was appointed to the upper house of Russia’s legislature in 2011. His term expires in December 2016.
The star defenseman of the Soviet national team spent 10 seasons in North America’s National Hockey League, playing for the New Jersey Devils and the Detroit Red Wings. The three-time Olympic medalist was featured in the award-winning “Red Army,” a 2014 documentary about the glory days of Soviet hockey.
