Italian law enforcement confiscated the property of businessman and architect Lanfranco Cirillo, who has Russian citizenship and lived in Russia for many years, and designed several buildings in the country, including a resort complex near Gelendzhik.
According to the newspaper Il MessaggeroCirillo was suspected of tax crimes, money laundering and a fictitious asset transfer. According to investigators, from 2013 to 2019, he did not declare income in the amount of tens of millions of euros and “imitated” life in another country.
The newspaper states that the total value of the confiscated property exceeds 140 million euros. We are talking about real estate, bank accounts, jewelry, works of art and other luxury items of famous writers, including Picasso, Cezanne, Kandinsky, De Chirico, as well as a helicopter registered in Russia, and then an investigation was launched. province of Brescia. The helicopter was not cleaned.
Investigative activities are “focused on finding significant signs of wealth that are completely disproportionate to the stated taxable income.”
Cirillo’s lawyer confirmed to reporter Reutersthat his client’s assets were indeed detained. “The Moscow-based architect is so disappointed that he has purchased prestigious real estate and artwork in Italy and provided it to his wife and daughter, it is believed he has moved abroad,” said the lawyer.
“Italian craftsmanship in the homes of powerful people”
sirillo received Russian passport in August 2014. The legal basis for granting citizenship was paragraph “a” of article 89 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which gave the President of Russia the right to resolve citizenship issues and seek political asylum.
Cirillo is called “Putin’s architect” by the Italian media. as he wrote RepublicIt was he who built a villa in Gelendzhik on the Black Sea coast, furnished with furniture from the most elite Italian companies and reminiscent of Silvio Berlusconi’s villa in Certosa.
According to the “investigation” by Alexei Navalny of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (the organization was included in the list of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice and banned in Russia), the holiday complex belongs to Vladimir Putin. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly denied this information. According to a Kremlin spokesperson, these rumors are “quality cranberries” and Putin himself has never been to the villa. Later, the president was asked about the “palace” at a meeting with students. answered as follows:
“Nothing written there as my property does not belong to me or my relatives and never has. Never”.
In an interview with Italian television channel La7 in April, Cirillo admitted that he designed the building himself, but explained that the client was a private company. “It’s crazy to think that the president of such an important country should build himself a palace,” said Cirillo.
A year ago, the architect said in an interview with la Repubblica that besides his residence in Brescia, he has a residence in Dubai, five villas in Moscow and a beautiful house in New York – Costa Smeralda. At the same time, he refuted the assumption that a plot was given nearby for the design of the complex in Gelendzhik.
In an interview with the newspaper Giornale di Brescia in February, Cirillo emphasized that he has implemented a number of important projects in Russia, “bringing the best examples of Italian craftsmanship into the homes of many influential people”. As previously written New TimesAmong other things, Chirillo designed the office of the financial group IFD Kapital on the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment and the interiors of many houses on Rublevka.