Wilbur Ross says it’s ‘totally wrong’ that he did not disclose ties to Putin-linked firm
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC Monday that it's "totally wrong" that he did not disclose ties to a Putin-linked firm.
Ross was revealed to have business links to a Russian firm with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a leak of financial documents at the weekend.
The ties were disclosed in the so-called "Paradise Papers," a mass of documents leaked to German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and reported Sunday. The millions of documents mostly originate from a Bermuda-based legal services provider that works on offshore investments.
The files reportedly show that Ross did not disclose an interest in a shipping company called Navigator Holdings, a company that has a business relationship with SIBUR.
Ross, however, denies that he did not disclose his Navigator holdings. In an updated statement from the Department of Commerce it is claimed the holdings are openly listed in a form on the Office of Government Ethics website.
One of SIBUR's owners is Gennady Timchenko, a Russian billionaire who is considered part of Putin's inner circle, according to NBC. Since 2014, Timchenko has been barred by the Treasury Department from entering the United States, according to the news agency.
A second SIBUR owner is another Putin associate, Leonid Mikhelson, whose other company, Novatek,was placed on Treasury sanctions list in 2014, NBC noted. A third shareholder in SIBUR, and its deputy chairman, is Kirill Shamalov, husband of Vladimir Putin's daughter, Katerina Tikhonova.
Responding to the documents, the U.S. Department of Commerce said in an initial statement Sunday that Ross "was not involved with Navigator's decision to engage in business with SIBUR, a publicly-traded company, which was not under sanction at the time and is not currently."
"Moreover, Secretary Ross has never met the Sibur shareholders referenced in this story and, until now, did not know of their relationship," the statement said, adding: "The Secretary recuses himself from matters focused on transoceanic shipping vessels, but has been supportive of the Administration's sanctions against Russian and other entities."
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