Rossiya Bank in St Petersburg has been described as the personal bank of Russian elites. Picture: AFP/ Olga Maltseva

“We know this so-called journalist community,” Putin’s right-hand man Dmitry Peskov said on Monday in reference to the 11.5 million strong tranche of documents revealing a complex web of payments and company ownership tracing back to the President.

The Panama Papers are the “biggest leak in journalism’s history”, made up of 11.5 million documents, or 2.6 terabytes of data, from law firm Mossack Fonseca.

They are potential evidence of tax evasion, secretive deals free from government oversight and links to corruption.

“There are a lot of journalists whose main profession is unlikely to be journalism; a lot of former officials from the US Department of State, the CIA and other special services.”

Mr Peskov said the Russian leader was the “main target” of the investigation that suffered from “Putinophobia” but refused to go into details “mainly because there was nothing new about Putin”.

The smack-down comes after one of Putin’s oldest and closest friends cellist Sergey Roldugin, who introduced Putin to his wife and is godfather to his daughter Maria, was named as the owner of companies that received tens of millions in payments despite previous claims he lived a modest life and was “not a businessman”.

While the Russian leader is not named in the files that include political leaders and celebrities from around the world, documents said “the company is a corporate screen established principally to protect the identity and confidentiality of the ultimate beneficial owner” according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

Instead, they raise suspicions Putin’s friends act as proxies for him, hoarding enormous wealth amassed via control of the country’s multi-billion industries that have been kept secret until now.

Mr Peskov said Mr Roldugin is simply one of “very many friends” the President has and the allegations were a smear designed to make him look bad ahead of September elections.

Vladimir Putin and Sergei Roldugin pictured with their partners at the christening of Putin’s daughter Maria.Source:Supplied

Putin pictured with Russian cellist Sergei Roldugin. Picture: AFP/Dmitry AstakhovSource:AFP

‘PERSONAL CASHBOX’ OF RUSSIAN ELITE

The huge tranche of documents obtained from law firm Mossack Fonesca have been poured over by nearly 300 journalists from around the world for 12 months.

Through payment records, passports and official documents, they lay bare the convoluted relationship between a handful of Putin cronies, Russian companies and private Bank Rossiya — previously referred to as the personal bank of Russian elites by the Obama administration that is currently under US and EU sanctions over the Ukraine.

Documents show Putin’s friend Mr Roldugin — who once referred to the leader as a brother — has a 12.5 per cent state in Russia’s largest TV agency Video International.

He’s also named as the owner of Sonnette Overseas, International Media Overseas and has a 3.2 per cent share of Bank Rossiya, chaired by another childhood friend of the President Yuri Kovalchuk.

Experts suspect the bank funnelled money into companies who gave cash or cheap loans to members of Putin’s inner circle in an alleged money laundering ring.

One example shows how Roldugin’s company International Media Overseas borrowed $6 million in 2007 only to have the loan written off three months later for $1.

Another suspect deal shows International Media Overseas bought rights to a $200 million loan for $1, even through interest payments were worth $8 million annually, the BBC reports.

The data comes following years of claims Putin is one of the world’s wealthiest men despite drawing a modest official salary. US diplomatic leaks have previously said he did not formally own assets but drew wealth from friends with strategic resources in the country’s oil and gas sectors instead.

Money laundering expert Andrew Mitchell QC told the BBC: “This is not business, this is creating the appearance of business in order to continually move and hide assets.”

US political scientist Karen Dawisha said it was inconceivable Putin did not know about the network.

“When you are the president of Russia you don’t need a written contract. You are the law,” she said.

When asked about the companies, Mr Rodulgin said “these are delicate issues” and he was connected to the business “a long time ago” before saying he would have to read more before commenting further.

Rossiya Bank in St Petersburg has been described as the personal bank of Russian elites. Picture: AFP/ Olga MaltsevaSource:AFP

‘FLOWS OF DIRTY CASH’

The leaks published by the ICIJ, German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the BBC and other partners rocked the world on Monday and left officials scrambling to catch up with watchdogs requesting information in the UK, Sweden, Oslo and Kiev.

Leadership in many countries is mentioned by name including UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s late father Ian, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and the King of Saudi Arabia.

Movie star Jackie Chan, footballer Lionel Messi and Australian mining giant BHP Billiton along with 800 Australian individuals are also named as clients of the company. However many including BHP Billiton have strenuously denied any wrongdoing.

Transparency International UK executive director Robert Barrington said the papers seemed to confirm evidence that the world’s elite are “gaming” the international system to protect their own wealth.

“The only way to stop this grand corruption is through governments, businesses and others coming together and rejecting dirty cash as illegitimate. The time has come to stop turning a blind eye to anonymous purchases of luxury property and goods, refuse to issue un-vetted investment visas and create a legal framework that is fit for purpose in detecting flows of dirty cash,” he said.

Russian media have downplayed claims with little mention of the papers on Monday’s news reports. Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pre-empted the claims saying there was an “information attack” against the government.