Oligarchs behind Jokerit implicated in global money laundering scandal

Banks have flagged Jokerit financier Vladimir Potanin for suspicious transfers amounting to tens of billions of euros, following a massive data leak. In files sent to US authorities, banks expressed concerns regarding the origin of Potanin's money and also singled him out for suspected money laundering.

American authorities have meanwhile had Oleg Deripaska, who also bankrolls Jokerit, under special surveillance for over a decade, the data dump revealed. Deripaska was also singled out by banks for suspicious transfers amounting to billions.

Information on the two men emerged in a leak of financial documents from the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Agency (FinCEN), that US-based news site Buzzfeed shared with Yle’s investigative programme MOT.

Potanin and Deripaska are both major shareholders in Nornickel, the world’s largest nickel producer. Harjavalta, Nornickel’s Finnish subsidiary, owns a 40-percent stake in the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In 2014 when Jokerit’s owners sold their home arena and 49 percent of the club to Russian investors, they also moved to play in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.

"Both Nornickel owners [Potanin and Deripaska] are politically influential persons close to Vladimir Putin. Deripaska has also been investigated on suspicion of money laundering in Spain in 2012," German Commerzbank wrote in a notification to US Treasury officials in 2016.

"No surprises"

Jaakko Korhonen, former head of corruption watchdog Transparency International, said financial irregularities pertaining to the two Russians did not come as a surprise

"Now we have the amounts, but the general picture has been known for a while. Former Jokerit owners have wanted to rid themselves of Jokerit involvement so they could go into politics," Korhonen said, referring to Movement Now’s Harry Harkimo, who sold his stake in the club to current main owner Jari Kurri in 2019.

Harkimo, elected as a National Coalition Party MP in 2015, is now the sole parliamentarian of his one-man party, Movement Now.

Yle investigative journalist Jyri Hänninen said Harkimo’s role as a parliamentarian and Jokerit owner could be seen as problematic as some of the club’s former Russian owners were under US sanctions.

"I’ve personally wondered what would happen if a member of the Swedish parliament received money from oligarchs considered close to the Russian president--I think Swedish media would have picked up on the matter and looked into the background more closely," Hänninen said.

Korhonen meanwhile said he was shocked by how little interest there had generally been among officials and media in Finland to look into Jokerit’s Russian backers.