What's new

“Londongrad”, Oligarchs, and the ‘London laundromat’: will Britain wean itself off Russian money?

James

World Star
Joined
Jan 8, 2006
Runs
50,833
Post of the Week
2
<b>Boris Johnson has launched a crackdown on oligarchs and companies linked to Vladimir Putin, but critics question its effectiveness.</b>

5 Belgrave Square, a stucco-fronted mansion complete with pillared portico, is one of London’s most exclusive addresses, overlooking leafy gardens and nestled between grand embassies and other private residences.

Once home to Sir Henry “Chips” Channon, a US-born Conservative MP whose diaries published during the 1960s were a source of scandal about British high society, in 2003 the Belgravia property, marketed for £25mn, became a symbol of a new era in UK prime real estate ownership.

It was bought for members of the family of Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch, an early sign of a flood of Russian wealth into “Londongrad”, as the UK capital soon became labelled.

Another prominent oligarch who invested in London the same year was Roman Abramovich, who bought Chelsea football club. This week, as pressure ratcheted up on Russian tycoons following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale.

Over the past two decades, London became one of the preferred investment locations — if not the favoured destination — for Russian oligarchs, as well a key financial centre for Russian companies, all encouraged by British governments of different political stripes.

But critics have dubbed it the “London laundromat”: an apparatus that allowed billions of pounds — some of it obtained through illegal or questionable means — to be siphoned out of the Russian economy and into trophy assets in the UK.

Following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Boris Johnson declared he wants to put that process into reverse, and impose punitive sanctions on individuals and companies with links to the Kremlin as well as crack down on money laundering.

But despite the bold rhetoric, it is not clear the Johnson government has either the political will or the tools to completely strip illicit money from the UK financial system.

— — —

Full article at: https://amp.ft.com/content/cfb74ef3-13d2-492a-b8da-c70b6340ccdd
 
Last edited:
Can London, and indeed Britain, survive without Russian money?
 
Can London, and indeed Britain, survive without Russian money?

London is home of hundreds of corrupt millionaries from around the world.

Nawaz Sharif is not Russian, he has properties in London made via corruption in Pakistan. UK denied Pak requests to take control.

Roman is very rich, will stay very rich no matter what Nato does.

But the Brits will suffer.

Chelsea teams are now banned from:
Sponsored Links
Trending




Offering new contracts to players or staff - Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta see their deals expire on June 30
Conducting any official transfer business, including women's team
Selling new tickets to any game for any of their teams - including women and junior sides (season-ticket holders and existing ticket holders only)
Selling merchandise to fans (existing merchandise can be sold via third parties)
No stadium work or redevelopment
Spending over £500,000 on security, stewarding and catering costs per home match and over £20,000 expenses per away games

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-roman-abramovich-sanctioned-by-uk-government

Sorry James no sane person take the UK seriously anylonger, the hypocrisy and lies have been taken to another level.
 
The UK has announced sanctions on 386 Russian politicians who supported Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the Foreign Office has said.

The sanctions mean bans on travel to the UK and the freezing of assets for those who voted for the independence of separatist regions Luhansk and Donetsk.

They also include the introduction of new powers to detain Russian aircraft in the UK and ban the export of aviation items.

UK 'will not let up' with sanctions

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the UK was "targeting those complicit in Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine and those who support this barbaric war".

"We will not let up the pressure and will continue to tighten the screw on the Russian economy through sanctions," she said.

"Together with our allies, we stand firmly beside our Ukrainian friends. We will continue to support Ukraine with humanitarian aid, defensive weapons and diplomatic work to isolate Russia internationally."

Downing Street has declined to say whether any of the Duma members subjected to these latest sanctions have any assets in the UK.

"The measures we put in place will ensure that any assets they do have in the UK will be frozen and they will no longer be able to travel to the UK or do any business here, but I wouldn't go through the details of individuals," a spokesman for Boris Johnson said.

The latest action comes after seven more Russian oligarchs with links to Putin were hit with sanctions by the UK government on Thursday, including Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who has previously denied having close ties with Russian president.

The other six Russian oligarchs sanctioned are:

• Oleg Deripaska, who has stakes in En+ Group - a major extractives and energy company

• Igor Sechin, chief executive of Rosneft - a Russian state oil company

• Andrey Kostin, chairman of VTB bank - the second largest bank in Russia

• Alexei Miller, chief executive of energy company Gazprom

• Nikolai Tokarev, president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft

• Dmitri Lebedev, chairman of the board of directors of Bank Rossiya - widely considered to be the Kremlin's private bank

Friday's move means more than 800 Russian individuals, entities and subsidiaries have been hit with sanctions, the Foreign Office said, including 18 lead oligarchs with a combined worth over £30bn.

SKY
 
London to me was always about being one of the big financial Capital cities of the world. Once you start confiscating or freezing assets due to whichever whay the political wind is blowing, then you would think international investors would think twice about parking their money here. Russians who supported their regime back home should surely have known better considering the cold war never really thawed completely.
 
London is the captial of laundry.

Russians do not hold a candle to the money vested by Arabs, Chinese, Vatican to name but a few.
 
<b>The UK has announced further sanctions against eight oligarchs and Russian banks, including the country's largest, Sberbank, and Credit Bank of Moscow.</b>

The Foreign Office announced its latest sanctions following the reports of attacks on civilians, and these include ending all imports of Russian coal and oil by the end of the year as well as action against strategic industries.

The latest sanctions come in step with those imposed by the US, which has also imposed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin's two daughters.

As part of its sanctions response, the UK has pledged to stop importing Russian oil by the end of the year, while the EU is reducing its imports of Russian gas by two-thirds.

Mr Johnson praised the "enormous strides" the EU is taken to reduce dependence on Russian gas.


<b>The eight oligarchs added to the sanctions list include:</b>

Viatcheslav Kantor, the largest shareholder of fertilizer company Acron

Andrey Guryev - known close associate of Vladimir Putin and founder of fertiliser firm PhosAgro

Sergey Kogogin, director of Kamaz, which manufactures trucks including for the military

Sergey Sergeyevich Ivanov, president of the world's largest diamond producer Alrosa

Leonid Mikhelson, founder, and chief executive of Russian natural gas producer Novatek

Andrey Akimov, chief executive of Russia's third largest bank Gazprombank

Aleksander Dyukov, chief executive of Russia's third largest and majority state-owned oil producer GazpromNeft

Boris Borisovich Rotenberg, son of the co-owner of Russia's largest gas pipeline producer SGM.


Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the latest wave of sanctions would decimate Mr Putin's "war machine" and show the Russian elite could not wash their hands of the atrocities committed on his orders.

Sanctions are penalties imposed by countries intended to stop aggression, or punish breaches of international law, and often involve financial curbs.

Those taken by the UK so far include freezing assets, excluding Russian banks from the UK financial system, banning some exports to Russia, restricting visas for wealthy investors and banning flights.

By the end of the year, the UK has said it will also phase out Russian oil imports.

Along with the EU and US, it has frozen the assets of more than 1,000 individuals and companies, including politicians and wealthy business leaders thought to be close to the Kremlin.

Asset freezes prevent anyone in the UK or any UK company from dealing with any funds or resources that are owned or held by the designated person, and prevent resources being provided to or for the benefit of that person.

From:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61011022
 
Those of us with ancestoral lands in Pakistan will be aware of the "qabza group" and "land mafia".

Those terms can also be applied to this country. We invite all the corrupt, sleazy, sinister and vile individuals of the world to invest in our country. Once we are done rinsing them and the political winds change we swoop in to steal/freeze their wealth and assets.
 
These are not sanctions but robbery of others assets and money.

The Irony is London only became wealthy by looting other nations.
 
<b>The Guardian: Children of oligarchs may have used parents’ funds for UK ‘golden visas’</b>

Anti-corruption campaigners and MPs have warned that “the kids of oligarchs” may have used their parents’ money to buy the right to live in the UK after it was revealed that the government granted “golden visas” to 46 people aged 21 or under.

The Home Office on Wednesday disclosed that it approved 46 applications for the tier 1 investor visa scheme to those aged 21 or under over the last seven years, following a freedom of information request from Bloomberg.

The golden visa scheme – which was scrapped in February over fears that it had been exploited by Russian oligarchs – was designed to attract wealthy people to the UK and required applicants to invest at least £2m. Thousands used it to secure fast-track rights to live and work in Britain, and the scheme was particularly popular with Russian and Chinese families.

John Penrose, a Conservative MP who serves as “the prime minister’s anti-corruption champion”, said the revelation raised concerns that golden visas could have been “a loophole for kleptocrats’ children to live gilded lives in London funded by dirty money”.

Related: UK gave sanctioned Russians ‘golden visas’ after first Ukraine invasion

“If golden visas were granted to the brightest and best young entrepreneurs, Britain will have benefited hugely from the jobs, energy and wealth which they will have created,” Penrose said. “The answer is for the government to publish its long-promised review of golden visas, so we can see what really happened and when. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, as the saying goes.”

It was previously revealed that eight Russian oligarchs on the UK sanctions list over their links to Vladimir Putin were also granted golden visas to live in Britain. The Home Office has declined to name the sanctioned individuals who were granted the visas, and who Johnson described as having “the blood of the Ukrainian people on their hands”.

Dr Susan Hawley, the executive director of Spotlight on Corruption, said the latest revelation of potential abuse of the golden visa scheme was “deeply concerning”.

“Due to a loophole in the golden visa regime, there were little to no checks on the source of wealth if the money was gifted to the person applying for the visa,” she said. “This means the kids of oligarchs may have used their parents’ money, possibly obtained through corruption, to secure UK residency, exemplifying yet again how the regime facilitated the flow of dirty money into the UK.

“The government urgently needs to publish a report on the national security risks golden visas posed, so that there is a fuller understanding of these risks, and appropriate action is taken,” she said.

Launched in 2008, but with its origins in an investor route dating back to 1994, the scheme allowed people with at least £2m in investment funds and a UK bank account to apply for residency rights along with their family. The speed with which applicants were given indefinite leave to remain was hastened by how much money they planned to invest in the UK: £2m took five years, while £10m – a higher option introduced in 2011 – shortened the wait to two years.

After the 2018 Salisbury poisonings of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, a former Russian military officer and his daughter, the government launched a review into the investors who were awarded visas from 2008 to 2015. The review has yet to be published.

During a “blind faith period” between 2008 and 2015, 97% of investors were subject to scant checks on the legitimacy of their wealth leading to concerns about undesirable people slipping into the country, say critics.

According to Spotlight on Corruption, 6,312 golden visas – half the number of all those issued – had been reviewed for “possible national security risks”.

Duncan Hames, director of policy at the anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International UK, said: “Media investigations, court cases and the occasional snippet from ministers have shed some light on the pasts of some visa recipients, but we are still largely in the dark about the true extent of abuse of the scheme.

“The Home Office should publish its long-overdue review with individual cases investigated where there are concerns that the applicants made their money through crime or corruption. Only through some genuine openness can we hope enough people will learn from the mistakes of the past.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have made it clear we will not tolerate abuse of our immigration system and we closed the tier 1 (investor) route to ensure those who have profited from dirty money cannot gain access to the UK.

“The new Economic Crime Act, which received royal assent after an expedited passage through parliament, delivers a package of measures to bring tougher sanctions against those who facilitate illicit finance in the UK and empowers law enforcement to investigate entities who do not comply.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/ukne...sedgntp&cvid=f33e7f791cd1480d824315ba849bc6f7
 
Gulnara Karimova: How Uzbek president’s daughter built a £200m property empire

A dictator's daughter who moonlighted as a pop star and diplomat spent $240m (£200m) on properties from London to Hong Kong, a report has found.

Gulnara Karimova used UK companies to buy homes and a jet with funds obtained through bribery and corruption, the Freedom For Eurasia study says.

It adds that accounting firms in London and the British Virgin Islands acted for UK companies involved in the deals.

The story raises fresh doubts about the UK's efforts to tackle illegal wealth.

British authorities have long been accused of not doing enough to prevent criminals from overseas using UK property to launder money.

The report says the ease with which Karimova obtained UK property was "concerning".

There is no suggestion that those acting for the companies linked to her were aware of any connection to her nor that the source of funds could have been suspicious. No-one who provided those services in the UK has been investigated or fined.

...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64915348
 
Can London, and indeed Britain, survive without Russian money?

Corruption of British institutions by Russian oligarch money is a key part of Putin’s strategy against UK. The Tories fell for it.
 
Which assets has Putin robbed? Please list.

Oil, mining, water, power.

https://factsanddetails.com/russia/Economics_Business_Agriculture/sub9_7b/entry-5169.html#chapter-9

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/589656

After communism fell, instead of the state-owned industries becoming gradually privatised (as Britain’s were under Thatcher), a few people got hyper-rich very fast. Putin came to the forefront by murdering one of these and intimidating the others - basic gangster tactics, except on a scale not of $millions but hundreds of $billions. See Bill Browder:

https://www.billbrowder.com/
 
Are we returning these assets to the Russian people?

It's blatant theft.

Oh, not really, Johnson gave his Russian mates lots of time to pull their funds out of UK and sequester them elsewhere.
 
Oil, mining, water, power.

https://factsanddetails.com/russia/Economics_Business_Agriculture/sub9_7b/entry-5169.html#chapter-9

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/589656

After communism fell, instead of the state-owned industries becoming gradually privatised (as Britain’s were under Thatcher), a few people got hyper-rich very fast. Putin came to the forefront by murdering one of these and intimidating the others - basic gangster tactics, except on a scale not of $millions but hundreds of $billions. See Bill Browder:

https://www.billbrowder.com/

Oil and Gas were fully nationalised by Putin, this isnt theft but handing control back to the people.

Sure, ill waste hours of my life reading Bill Browder who not neutral. :))
 
Oil and Gas were fully nationalised by Putin, this isnt theft but handing control back to the people.

He didn’t do that. While the oil industry is supposedly in public ownership, his cronies control it and became hyper-rich. Similar to what Hitler did with the Weimar state industries and the pro-Hitler aristocrats.

Sure, ill waste hours of my life reading Bill Browder who not neutral. :))

Well, Putin did murder his mate. Difficult to stay neutral.
 
There it is! Godwin's law invoked!

Putin alledgedly murdering someone (total accusation) is deemed unacceptable, but Western government leaders greenlighting war on innocent millions is a show of democracy, and acceptable for the greater good.

Speaking of cronies, in the UK/USA all the top folk scratch each other's back, and when they steal Billions from the poor man, they call it - wait for this - free markets.

This is not all, these same cronies get their buddies in Government power to award multi-billion contracts, and they call this, wait for it, lobbying.

All the celebrities, politicians, generals billionaires, were caught with their pants down when the Panama papers leaked, were they brought to justice? No. Did HMRC close the loophole, no. They are all in it together to rob the common man dry, but no, Russia is the problem!
 
He didn’t do that. While the oil industry is supposedly in public ownership, his cronies control it and became hyper-rich. Similar to what Hitler did with the Weimar state industries and the pro-Hitler aristocrats.



Well, Putin did murder his mate. Difficult to stay neutral.

According to you Putin is worse than Satan himself. :))

Russians are living better off than some Europeans at this moment, their nation has never been in such a wealthy situation even with the terrorist sanctions against them.

You want Putin to hand back some imaginary loot from his people but are happy to live off stolen loot from across the globe by your heroic British empire.

Robert, you have little credibility when it comes to Russia.
 
There it is! Godwin's law invoked!

Putin alledgedly murdering someone (total accusation) is deemed unacceptable, but Western government leaders greenlighting war on innocent millions is a show of democracy, and acceptable for the greater good.

Speaking of cronies, in the UK/USA all the top folk scratch each other's back, and when they steal Billions from the poor man, they call it - wait for this - free markets.

This is not all, these same cronies get their buddies in Government power to award multi-billion contracts, and they call this, wait for it, lobbying.

All the celebrities, politicians, generals billionaires, were caught with their pants down when the Panama papers leaked, were they brought to justice? No. Did HMRC close the loophole, no. They are all in it together to rob the common man dry, but no, Russia is the problem!

Robert, Putin murdered his mate! Robert, UK/US should take kill Putin or someone should throw him out a window. :))

Russia has changed history, it will be a superpower for a long time to come while Europe and US are on the brink .
 
Robert, Putin murdered his mate! Robert, UK/US should take kill Putin or someone should throw him out a window. :))

Russia has changed history, it will be a superpower for a long time to come while Europe and US are on the brink .

Putin is clearly a successful leader, the Russian election results prove this. Meanwhile in the UK/USA governments are in shambles, coalitions are being formed across Europe, society is polarised, economies tanking, but when one man, Putin, leads an entire nation, with prosperity (compared to after the collapse of USSR), the West refuse to accept the bogeyman has out smarted them.

Maybe the West can learn a thing or two about leadership from Putin.

Meanwhile the Arabs, Chinese, Vatican et al are snapping up London assets, but again, Putin is the problem.
 
Putin is clearly a successful leader, the Russian election results prove this. Meanwhile in the UK/USA governments are in shambles, coalitions are being formed across Europe, society is polarised, economies tanking, but when one man, Putin, leads an entire nation, with prosperity (compared to after the collapse of USSR), the West refuse to accept the bogeyman has out smarted them.

Maybe the West can learn a thing or two about leadership from Putin.

Meanwhile the Arabs, Chinese, Vatican et al are snapping up London assets, but again, Putin is the problem.

I would love to see a poll.

In UK - Would you rather have Putin or Sunak as leader.

In US - Would you rather have Putin or ...erm forgot his name as leader?
 
Back
Top