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Dear Ms Van Dis-‐Setz, I Hereby File a Report on Criminal Offences Committe LINNAEUSSTRAAT 2 -A, 1092 CK AMSTERDAM TELEPHONE +31(0)20-3446200 | FAX +31(0)20-3446201 E-MAIL: [email protected] | www.prakkeNdoliveira.Nl REGISTERED MAIL NetherlaNds Public ProsecutioN Service Ms J.J.M. vaN Dis-Setz LLM MARQ WIJNGAARDEN FLIP SCHÜLLER IJdok 163 PROF. LIESBETH ZEGVELD MARIEKE VAN EIK 1013 MM Amsterdam WIL EIKELBOOM DR CHANNA SAMKALDEN TAMARA BURUMA MICHIEL PESTMAN PROF. GÖRAN SLUITER BRECHTJE VOSSENBERG DR HANA VAN OOIJEN JO-ANNE NIJLAND Also via e-mail: [email protected] LISA-MARIE KOMP BARBARA VAN STRAATEN TOM DE BOER FREDERIEKE DÖLLE Amsterdam, 22 October 2018 ELLES TEN VERGERT Our refereNce D20180891/BVS/bvs Direct tel. no: 020-3446248 Direct fax no: 020-3446201 ADVISORS PROF. HANS ULRICH JESSURUN D’OLIVEIRA PROF. TIES PRAKKEN PROF. BRITTA BÖHLER Concerning: Avaaz | Filing of a report against the Khrapunov fraud Dear Ms VaN Dis-Setz, I hereby file a report oN crimiNal offences committed iN the Netherlands on behalf of my client, a civic movemeNt that goes uNder the Name of Avaaz1. This report is targeted at a Number of legal and Natural entities who are suspected of beiNg guilty of lauNdering substaNtial amouNts of moNey that was embezzled iN Kazakhstan. This report is mainly, but expressly not exclusively targeted at Bayrock B.V. and KazBay B.V., both of whom are legal entities established iN the Netherlands, Helvetic Capital S.A., a legal entity registered iN SwitzerlaNd, as well as the owNers, directors and ultimately the stakeholders of these legal entities, iNcludiNg Bayrock Group LLC, Tevfik Arif and Leila KhrapuNov, amoNg other entities. The Bayrock Group LLC is a legal entity registered iN the UNited States. Avaaz suspects that the abovemeNtioNed legal aNd Natural entities have committed said crimiNal offences, whether or not in organised form, and these offences will be discussed in detail below. Avaaz believes this organisation also included legal and natural entities which have facilitated the moNey lauNdering, including Bracewell & GiuliaNi LLP, a law firm operating from the UNited States. There are iNdicatioNs that the abovementioNed legal aNd Natural entities have laundered at least USD 1,480,000 iN the Netherlands, whether or Not iN organised form, via said KazBay B.V., a Dutch liNk iN an iNterNatioNal moNey lauNdering Network. As stated, this moNey origiNated from crimes committed in Kazakhstan. AN amouNt of up to USD 6 billioN is purportedly involved in this fraud case. The suspected aim of the acts committed iN the NetherlaNds, amoNg other couNtries, was the 1 Avaaz is established in the United States, but for this case Avaaz chooses domicile at my office; see further. PRAKKEN D’OLIVEIRA HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERS COÖPERATIEF U.A. REGISTERED WITH THE AMSTERDAM CHAMBER OF COMMERCE UNDER NO 63477645 ANY LIABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT WHICH IS PAID UNDER THE FIRM’S PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY POLICY IN THE MATTER CONCERNED D20180891 19 October 2018, page 2 coNcealmeNt of the crimiNal nature or origin of the revenues of these crimes. As explained in detail below, investigations in this case have uncovered a large number of money laundering indicators, such as the coNcealmeNt of the ultimate stakeholders, aN abuNdaNce of jurisdictioNs and shell compaNies iNvolved, iNvolvemeNt of politically promiNeNt iNdividuals (iNcludiNg the aforemeNtioNed Leila KhrapuNov) aNd iNvolvemeNt of former crimiNals. This fraud case has prompted crimiNal investigatioNs in various couNtries. GiveN the major social sigNificaNce of effective aNd adequate iNvestigatioN aNd prosecutioN of moNey lauNdering offeNces, the clieNt requests you to also lauNch a criminal investigatioN in the NetherlaNds. The clieNt believes that this very case may serve as aN example of the facilitating role played by the Netherlands in the international money laundering network. I will explain the reasons in more detail below. 1. AVAAZ Avaaz is an iNterNatioNal civic movement fouNded in 2007, with over 48 millioN members iN 194 couNtries.2 Avaaz has approximately 290,000 members in the Netherlands. The movemeNt coNducts worldwide campaigNs on importaNt subjects of general interest. The members of the movemeNt personally determine the subjects on which they waNt to coNduct campaigNs, aNd they are assisted by a team of over a hundred staff members, which operates in 16 languages aNd is spread across 23 couNtries. The aim of Avaaz is to amplify the voice of citizeNs everywhere iN the world in worldwide decisioN- makiNg processes, aNd it hopes to bridge the gap between the world that exists and the world that people everywhere wish for. The campaigns by Avaaz do not originate from any particular ideology, nor are they targeted at specific subjects or regions. Avaaz organises meetings and media campaigNs in order to spread informatioN oN subjects, is involved in fuNd-raisiNg, helps members to establish coNtacts with policymakers, exerts direct political influence on decision-makers, aNd takes legal actioN where Necessary iN order to achieve its objectives. These objectives vary from the enviroNment to human rights, and from couNteriNg misiNformatioN to addressiNg corruptioN. The fight agaiNst corruptioN is oNe of the key objectives of the members of Avaaz. For example, members of Avaaz have coNducted a campaign iN Brazil for the so-called law of ‘Ficha Limpa’, the cleaN record act, which makes politiciaNs with a coNvictioN for fraud iNeligible to compete for public office. And together with Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Avaaz is committed to the worldwide abolitioN of tax haveNs, iNcludiNg for members of the Group of 20. The campaigNs agaiNst corruptioN aNd moNey lauNdering are amoNg the most successful priorities of Avaaz. It is in this coNtext that this report should be read, where Avaaz wishes to emphasise that moNey lauNdering, as you know, is Not a crime without victims. This also applies to the facts oN which this report is based. 2 https://avaaz.org/page/nl/about/. D20180891 19 October 2018, page 3 2. HOW THIS REPORT CAME ABOUT This report came about oN the basis of a wide range of sources. Various jourNalistic inquiry groups have carried out investigations for many years into the criminal organisation and the worldwide moNey lauNdering Network. In additioN, this report builds oN informatioN from court documeNts from various jurisdictioNs. ANoNymous sources were Not used iN the preparatioN of this report, but there were coNversatioNs with jourNalists who, iN some cases, have had to use such sources iN their investigatioNs. In 2017, the televisioN programme Zembla produced two documentaries that are closely related to the crimiNal offeNces described iN this report. The report is partially based oN the work of Zembla.3 Zembla has published the results of the investigation on the website of the programme under the title ‘File 1 KazBay B.V.’. This report oNly covers part of a far more exteNsive moNey lauNdering Network. Avaaz is still investigating this Network, in close cooperatioN with said media aNd inquiry groups. IN the loNg term, this iNvestigatioN could lead to a supplemeNt to this report because there is a well-fouNded suspicioN that eveN more fuNds origiNatiNg from KazakhstaN have beeN lauNdered iN the NetherlaNds. 3. BACKGROUND This report is related to a complex global Network of illegal moNey flows that are liNked to what is coNsidered to be oNe of the biggest fraud cases ever. It will be explaiNed iN more detail below how some of these moNey flows ultimately eNded up iN the NetherlaNds, aNd how Dutch service providers helped to cover up the money laundering acts. In a Nutshell, the moNey lauNdering Network started in KazakhstaN, where a figure of up to USD 10 billion was purportedly embezzled. This money was subsequently circulated by two Kazakh oligarch families via a worldwide Network of shell compaNies. A Number of these compaNies were established in the NetherlaNds. The moNey was subsequeNtly invested in real estate projects in the UNited States and Europe, after which it was paid out as ‘profits’ via – once again – a Network of shell companies.4 Once agaiN, Dutch compaNies were used here. As will be explaiNed iN more detail below, at least two Dutch compaNies – KazBay B.V. and Bayrock B.V. – played a key role here. In the meaNtime, the fraud has resulted in a number of lawsuits in KazakhstaN5, LoNdoN (“High Court Case”, Appendices 1a, 1b and 1c), Paris6, Los ANgeles (“California Complaint”, Appendix 2) and New 3 See the website of Zembla: 'The Dubious Friends of DoNald Trump: The Russians', File1 KazBay B.V. and File 3: The BillioN Dollar Fraud: https://zembla.bnnvara.Nl/Nieuws/the-dubious-frieNds-of-donald-trump-the-russiaNs; https://zembla.bnnvara.nl/nieuws/the-coNtroversial-frieNds-of-donald-trump-part-iii-the-billion-dollar-fraud; and also: https://zembla.bnnvara.nl/nieuws/trump-business-partner-accused-of-involvemeNt-in-dutch-based- moNey-lauNdering-scheme (hereiNafter to be referred to as “Zembla Documentaries”) IncideNtally, oNe of the suspects iN the fraud case, Iliyas KhrapuNov has attempted – in vain – to have the Zembla broadcast baNNed: ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2017:5135 4 See, for example, the aforementioNed Zembla documentaries. See also: The Diplomat 18 July 2018, ‘The Case of the Khrapunovs’, https://thediplomat.com/2018/07/the-case-of-the-khrapuNovs/; or FiNaNcial Times 19 October 2016, ‘Dirty MoNey: Trump aNd the Kazakh connection’, https://www.ft.com/content/33285dfa-9231- 11e6-8df8-d3778b55a923 5 https://www.rferl.org/a/former-almaty-mayor-wife-coNvicted-and-seNteNced-in-absentia/29531776.html 6 https://apnews.com/7aac8255fda84d09990a6e3bae7b1825 D20180891 19 October 2018, page 4 York (“SDNY Case”, Appendices 3a and 3b). Some of these cases are still ruNNiNg. The clieNt hopes to extend the iNvestigatioN to the Netherlands with this report. 4. THE CRIMINAL ORIGIN OF THE FUNDS: FRAUD IN KAZAKHSTAN This report is related to two major fraud cases that occurred iN Kazakhstan approximately a decade ago.
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