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A number of properties in Germany - owned by a Russian oligarch affected by European sanctions - were searched today, the prosecutor's office in Munich announced.

According to the German weekly "Spiegel", it is about Alisher Usmanov, close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, reported France Press.

About 250 agents of the Federal Police Service and the tax police were involved in these operations in various regions, including Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, the prosecutor's office said.

The investigators searched a total of 24 properties of the oligarch and four other people, said "Spiegel", which revealed the affair.

Usmanov, who lived in recent years mainly in Bavaria, was not currently in Germany or Russia, according to the magazine.

Investigators believed he was in his native Uzbekistan.

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The 69-year-old Russian billionaire, a former president of the International Fencing Federation, is suspected in particular of having his real estate properties monitored by a security firm, even though they were included in the sanctions list imposed in February by the EU in response of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

By paying the security company, Usmanov violated the ban on disposing of frozen assets.

The four other individuals whose properties were searched are suspected of aiding and abetting this offense by providing the surveillance services.

In addition, Usmanov is suspected of having committed tax fraud in the amount of 550 million euros, adds "Spiegel", without this being confirmed by the Munich prosecutor's office.

The magazine portrays him as a front man used by the Russian president for business deals. 

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