Sergei Shoigu (pictured), Russian defence minister, used his daughter Ksenia to hide his ownership of a £12million luxury mansion in Moscow, it is claimed

The man leading Vladimir Putin's military campaign in Syria, Sergei Shoigu, Russian defence minister, used his glamorous daughter to hide his ownership of a £12million luxury mansion in Moscow, it is claimed.

Opposition investigators sense a corruption scandal claiming that the hardline army General sought to hide the lavish home by registering its plot to his child Ksenia when she was 18.

The property appears beyond the means of close Putin ally Shoigu's government salary of currently around £85,000 a year and his declared family income at the time, it is alleged.

A former part-time actress, Ksenia Shoigu is known to be close to her father, who as well as masterminding the Syrian campaign is blamed by the West for the invasion of Crimea and military support for breakaway elements in eastern Ukraine.

It is also pilots under Shoigu's command who regularly buzz British air defences in the current climate of tension between east and west.

Revelations today show Ksenia owned site of the sumptuous timber-clad property in Barvikha, one of the most prestigious suburbs of Moscow, in November 2009 when she was 18.

It was at this point that she was not covered by his official declaration of income and assets.

On a 97,000 square foot site, aerial images of the house show it has gently curved roofs akin to Buddhist temples.

Shoigu, 60, who holds the rank of General in the Russian Army and is overseeing a large and expensive expansion of his country's defences, was born in Buryatia, a Buddhist region of Siberia.

The mansion was revealed by real estate investigator, Georgy Alburov, who is closely associated with Putin foe Alexei Navalny.

'How the 18-year-old student Ksenia Shoigu became the owner of land that costs at a minimum $100,000 per 100 square metres - or $9million for the entire plot - is unclear, and that is a great question for the Investigative Committee,' he said.

Fit for a king: The £12million luxury mansion in Moscow that built by Putin's defence minister

Cover up? Sergei Shoigu with his daughter Ksenia who bought the land in 2009 when she was a student

Opposition investigators sense a corruption scandal claiming that the hardline army General (pictured, left, beside Putin) sought to hide the lavish home by registering its plot to his child Ksenia when she was 18

The committee, run by a former Putin classmate, is in charge of probing major crime in Russia.

Alburov claimed the total value of the property was 'at least' $18million, or £12million, while the declared family income from all sources in the two years when it was being developed was in the order of £1.7million.

He produced documents suggesting in August 2012 the estate was put in the name of Shoigu's sister in law Yelena Antipina, who declined to comment this week on the house.

Alburov said that during his investigation researchers found themselves being accused by the FSB secret service of collecting information about Russians fighting in Syria to pass to jihadists.

They were also warned against running the story on the Shoigu property.

Economics graduate Ksenia, now 23, is on record as saying: 'The army and society in our country are united. And when we're united, we're invincible.

'For me, to defend Russia means to believe in it and make others believe in it. I consider myself a defender of the country'

She has been seen arm in arm at public events with her father who has held government positions since 1991 and seen as one of Russia's most respected and squeaky clean political figures.

He was formerly the minister in charge of emergencies in Russia.

The Russian ministry of defence declined to comment.