The report’s authors clearly stated that “the UK has a problem with the kleptocracy”. Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are some of the origin countries of these few who invest millions in London. often there Suspicions about the transfer of funds from national budgets, but it reached the UK was already “laundered” the outside. Maine considers the current system ineffective: “If facilitators realize that they will never be arrested for breaking the law, what is the motive for rejecting this dirty money?”
The vast majority are not in the shade. After years in the UK, many of these few obtained British citizenship and became influential members of society. One of the most famous cases is Evgeny Lebedev, the son of a former KGB spy: owner of the newspaper (Evening Standard), who is close to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and joined the House of Lords in 2020. Others, such as Lobov Chernokhin (wife of a former Russian minister), make donations Unprecedented for parties. For Thomas Mayne, there is a file The danger of attempts at “political influence” To “reduce the Conservative Party and the government.”
Added to this is an even more vexing problem: saying this in a country like the UK, where defamation laws are among the strictest in the world, can get anyone into trouble with the law. This is the case of journalist Catherine Belton, who was recently convicted after a complaint from millionaire Roman Abramovich. “If an oligarch wants to make trouble for someone, he just sue that person,” Mayne laments. Money opens all doors, including the doors of justice.
Why did you decide to publish this report now? Much of what it contains has already been talked about in the past, including the British Parliament’s report on Russia. What makes that not discussed enough?
All of us as authors – there are six of us, it was a collaborative effort – have some experience with these topics of corruption and corruption. In a way, it can be said that, for those familiar with this topic, there is nothing new in the report in terms of cases. I may not agree, but I do accept that for those who know these stories, they can say “What’s new? Because now?”. I have some answers to these questions. There is no doubt that we with Boris Johnson’s government have seen less interest, we must say, in the fight against corruption and especially the corrupt. There is a lot of talk about organized crime, which does no harm, but no one is talking about how to stop the kleptocratic flows. Second, this goes hand in hand with increased interest in the Conservative Party from this questionable capital of former Soviet Union countries. See more donations to the party. Of course, we do not think that this is the only problem for the conservatives, we all remember that Tony Blair was advising the President of Kazakhstan …
…and Peter Mandelson [membro do Partido Trabalhista].
absolutely yes. It is Schroeder in Germany [o ex-chanceler alemão tem cargos em várias empresas de energia russas]. But I think we’re seeing more now and that’s the government that’s in power, so it’s what matters to us. We have less resistance to kleptocratic rule, as well as more donations to the Conservative Party. We got the report from Russia [do Parlamento britânico] Not much has happened since then. We have Russian forces gathering near Ukraine. However, we don’t seem to understand that having a lot of Russian money in London can be a problem. Of course, both things are related. I think that’s a reason to publish this report now.
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