On his blog, the prominent anti-corruption activist provides documentation purportedly showing the purchase of luxury Miami apartments by the family of Ivan Karnilin, the western Russian city’s mayor.
The two seafront apartments, roughly valued at a combined 130 million rubles (US$ 2.1 million) far exceed Karnilin’s mayoral salary of 4.7 million rubles and were never declared in Russia.
While Karnilin was not the actual purchaser of the apartments, Navalny was able to uncover ties to him via his wife and daughter, whose names were present on the sale agreements as buyer and heir. At present, no information is available Karnilin’s wife’s income or employment status.
In a video posted as part of the investigation, Navalny pledged that the expose of Karnilin’s family would be the start of a series targeting officials across the country.
"If we had such an easy time finding the mayor’s real estate in Miami, then the national security services or the president’s administration could do it easily," Navalny said.
"It’s just that they don’t want to look, because everyone has something of this kind. Because to Putin and his officials, Russia is just a place to earn money."
