Former French Prime Minister François Fillon joins a giant of Russian petrochemicals

Former politician, sentenced to prison, was appointed to the Council of Sibur. This group is particularly controlled by one of the richest men in Russia and a close to President Vladimir Putin.

Le Monde with AFP

Former French Prime Minister François Fillon joined the Board of Directors of the Russian Giant of Petrochemical Sibur, announced the Group Thursday, December 23. SIBUR has published an updated list of its Board of Directors, indicating that Mr. Fillon has been appointed to the Board as an independent administrator. In particular, the group is controlled by Leonid Mikhelon, one of the richest men in Russia, and Guennadi Timchenko, a close to President Vladimir Putin.

The proximity of society with Russian power has been illustrated on another occasion: in 2020, press investigations revealed that after its marriage in 2013 with one of Vladimir Putin’s daughters, the man Kirill Chamalov, son of a friend of the President, had received units in the broken price. Mr. Chamalov had, in fact, acquired 3.8% of the Group’s actions, via offshore transactions made a few months after the marriage, for the sum of $ 100. Their value was $ 380 million at the time,

five years in prison including two farm

At the end of June, Mr. Fillon joined the Board of Directors of another Russian company, Zaroubejneft, specializing in the development and exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits, particularly abroad, owned by the State. Mr. Fillon, who led the French government under the chairmanship of Nicolas Sarkozy between 2007 and 2012, is at the head of Apteras, a consulting firm he created in 2017.

The former politician was sentenced in June 2020 to five years in prison, two firm in a resounding affair of fictitious jobs that had derailed his presidential campaign in 2017. Other former senior foreign officials are already part of of the Board of Directors of Russian oil groups.

The former head of the Austrian diplomacy Karin Kneissl, who danced a waltz with Vladimir Putin during his wedding in 2018, was appointed in June to the Russian Rosneft oil giant. The former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, a long-standing friend of Vladimir Putin, is Chairman of the Rosneft Board of Directors.

/Media reports.