UK offensive organization supporting Russia’s cash flow

Sanctions against oligarchy, from the end of the “Golden Visas” to the law against economic crimes, the Russian invasion of Ukraine led the British government to attack an organization that for decades has sometimes drawn suspicious Russian money.

“The end of an era,” said AFP’s Dominic Greve, a lawyer and former chairman of a parliamentary committee.

Anti-money activists often point to the role played by Britain’s powerful financial sector and the forces of its London lawyers, accountants and estate agents.

In addition, they criticize the Conservative government for its incompetence and for its particular hypocrisy in combating the dubious money flow that is irrigating the British economy.

But the Russian invasion of Ukraine forced the administration to react. Greve denounced that the integration of rich Russians has been encouraged by the issuance of millionaire investments known as “golden visas” since 2008.

– Gravity Pole –

With these visas, “London and the United Kingdom have become an undeniable gravitational pole,” especially for Russian businessmen who made a lot of money in the most dubious circumstances with the collapse of the former Soviet Union, he adds. .

They saw the UK as “a good place to work … many times for their children to live and study”.

The charity has identified the assets of ரஷ 1.5 billion ($ 1.975 billion, 8 1.8 billion) of Russians accused of corruption or links to the Kremlin in the luxury London neighborhood.

According to the organization, more than 2,000 companies registered in the country or its territories have been used in fraud or corruption cases worth 82 82 billion in Russian currency.

London announced in mid-February that it would stop issuing “gold visas” to Fifteen Russians close to Vladimir Putin’s government, before expanding its list of people subject to sanctions.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that “more” should be done on personal sanctions.

A bill tabled in parliament aims to prevent money laundering by real estate, forcing the final owners to reveal their identities so they can no longer “hide” behind a company.

It was clear that many Russian oligarchs in the UK “had very close ties with the Russian government”, which posed a security risk to the country, Greve said.

– Serving oligarchy –

He guarantees that the city of London will be “severely affected” by sanctions against oligarchy, such as property freezes and travel bans, but “the UK is attracting money from all over the world” and “it does not mean it will go bankrupt.”

The UK financial sector is already subject to laws designed to control the flow of dirty money, but so far enforcement has been weak, partly due to a lack of resources in the public finance crime sector.

Ben Quattoc, head of investigations at Transparency International in the UK, argues that the “new measures will be very effective”, especially in “almost 90,000 property owners” in the country.

But he warns that “these measures must have sufficient resources to be used effectively.”

According to Transparency International’s 2019 investigation, the fortunes invested in the country came mostly from Russia, but also from Ukraine, China and Nigeria.

“Since the end of the British Empire, England has served the world’s richest people and companies,” agrees Oliver Bullo, author of the book, which will be published this week, not just in Russia.

He told the AFP that despite recent government announcements, “there is no awareness from anyone that money should not be accepted.” He considers British advertising to be “very disappointing” due to a lack of evidence.