Dutch prosecutors have seized a property near Amsterdam linked to Putin’s son-in-law. According to independent Dutch and Russian media, a specialist division of the Public Prosecution Service seized a piece of land in Duivendrecht, just outside Amsterdam, from a Dutch citizen Jorrit Faassen.
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The investigative journalists from Follow the Money portal analyzed records from the land registry and found that the plot of land was taken over on May 12. Dutch journalists claim that Faassen acquired the property through a company named Molenkade Ontwikkeling BV, which itself is owned by Gietrin Investment Ltd. in Cyprus. That business was tied to two brothers in Putin’s inner circle, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, who are both on sanctions lists.
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The seizure of the… pic.twitter.com/B6r6PuGPmx
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Former Molenkade Ontwikkeling director Thomas Grentzius, who is married to Faassen’s cousin, told Follow the Money that Faassen asked him to become the company director and told him to buy the property in 2013.
Grentzius resigned a few years later out of concern for Faassen’s situation. Faassen became the company director in 2019 and sold the land to himself for EUR 450,000. Two years later, he applied for a permit to build a home and several offices on the property, but Duivendrecht stopped the process after stories surfaced about the connection between the property, Faassen, and Putin’s daughter, Maria Putina, also known as Maria Vorontsova.
These details alone might not be the reason for the asset seizure, though it likely means a criminal investigation has started, attorney Heleen over de Linden told Follow the Money.
“It is of course possible that he himself is suspected of something, fraud for example. But it is also quite possible that the Public Prosecution Service suspects Faassen of helping the Rotenbergs to circumvent sanctions,” she said.
The prosecutors would not comment on the issue.
Faassen was recently stopped and questioned at Schiphol Airport as part of an investigation into the evasion of sanctions. He is not known to be on any European or American sanctions lists, but an anonymous source claims that Faassen’s laptop and phone were seized.
Faassen was long rumored to be married to Vorontsova, Putin’s oldest known daughter. They are rumored to have at least one son together, who would be about 11 years old now, though the nature and history of their relationship have been kept under wraps. Independent Russian media claim that the couple divorced in 2022.