Russia’s wealthiest businessman has ties in Hungary?

Lezgin billionaire businessman, philanthropist, and politician, Suleyman Abusaidovich Kerimov was recently named Russia’s richest person by Forbes Magazine. He currently has a fortune worth 25 billion US dollars, and apparently some ties in Hungary as well.

The Bell writes that Kerimov entered the business world in 1999 when he purchased the oil trader company Nafta Moskva that exported oil for the Soviet Union and was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time. Kerimov used the company’s assets as collateral to raise loans.

He later entered the world of politics and became a deputy from the Liberal Democratic party. He has been serving as a senator in Russia’s upper house of parliament since 2008. He is representing the largely Muslim republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus.

Kerimov started building his business abroad around 2006, and he successfully sold almost all his Russian assets by 2008. He bought a lot of shares in foreign companies, including giants like BP, Boeing, Deutsche Bank or Morgan Stanley, where he became the largest shareholder.