By Athena Yenko
International Business Times (Australia)
International Business Times (Australia)
Lands America’s Most Admired List Too
Russian President Vladimir Putin was awarded the 2014 Person of the Year in an organised crime category. He had also been named as America’s most admired man.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin talks to reporters during a meeting in Brasilia July 16, 2014. Putin warned on Wednesday that U.S. sanctions will take relations with Russia to a “dead end” and damage U.S. business interests in his country. Picture taken July 16, 2014.
Mr Putin had allegedly turned Russia into a money-laundering capital through a complicated scheme involving the money of the country’s oligarchs, corrupt government officials and organized crime members being transferred into Europe through a Latvian bank. The money amassed through the money-laundering scheme was allegedly used to carry out Mr Putin’s political interests.
Mr Putin also purportedly allowed organised crime leaders to transfer weapons from the Russian army to Russian backed separatists in Crimea and in the Donbass. It was alleged that the weapons were being supplied to the rebels from the Russian fourteenth army deployed in Moldova.
Mr Putin had arrested leaders of Russia’s organised crime through the years but had reportedly released those arrested discreetly. In exchange, he solicited their support in advancing state policies.
With all these, 125 investigative journalists and 20 investigative reporting organisations from the Organised Crime and Corruption reporting Project or OCCRP named Mr Putin as the 2014 Person of the Year. The award is given to the person who made notable advances in upholding organised crime activities.
Mr Putin was seen as a real innovator in working with organised crime. “He has created a military-industrial-political-criminal complex that furthers Russia’s and Putin’s personal interests,” editor of OCCRP Drew Sullivan said.
“The Russian-backed money laundering platforms have exploited the lack of transparency in the global financial and offshore company registrations systems to create a nee criminal financial infrastructure used by crime groups from as far away as Mexico and Vietnam,” OCCRP executive director Paul Radu said.
Mr Putin had also been listed as number 10 among Americans’ most admired man and woman in a poll made on Dec 8-11 by Gallup analytics. He earned more votes than U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and ex-presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush.
Mr Putin’s name on the list was described as “the most eyebrow-raising entrant” by The Atlantic. He was not voted in the category for the past seven years and received not a single vote since 2010. Mr Putin being included in the list happened as world leaders condemned him for his annexation of Crimea, alleged support of the rebels in Ukraine and in the wake of the rouble decline.
The managing editor of Gallup Jeffrey Jones finds it “kind of puzzling” that Mr Putin made it on the list. Analysts in Gallup could not identify a demographic pattern among those who named Mr Putin as their most admired man. They could not even tell if Americans were only listing Mr Putin as a joke, Jones told The Atlantic.
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