A villa owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in London. Tolga Akmen / AFP
More than 20% comes from Russia, in particular for the benefit of people “subject to sanctions and close to the Kremlin”denounces the NGO Transparency International.
Nearly 52,000 properties are still held anonymously in the UK, some by “kleptocrats and oligarchs”despite the entry into force of rules requiring them to reveal their identity, denounced Tuesday, February 7 the NGO Transparency International in a report.
The organization has identified ‘over £6.7bn of UK property purchased with suspect funds’, a majority of which are owned through opaque offshore companies, particularly luxury properties in uptown London. More than 20% of this sum comes from Russia, in particular for the benefit of people “subject to sanctions and close to the Kremlin”specifies the NGO, which also quotes the former Angolan vice-president Manuel Domingos Vicente or the couple of Azerbaijani leaders Ilham Aliev and Mehriban Alieva.
Fortunes and Mysteries by Roman Abramovich
London, regularly accused of doing too little about the influx of dodgy money into the country, had toughened its tone in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including passing a law to force property owners real estate to unfold. But “nearly half of businesses required to declare their owner did not do so” on the January 31 deadline, denounces Transparency International. They “have either completely ignored the law or submitted information that prevents the public from knowing who owns it.” For example, some said that the owner was another company “although it is against the rules in many cases”others say they are held via trusts, “opaque structures”others have simply claimed to have no beneficial owner, deplores the organization.
“Filling the gaps in the law”
A parliamentary report last summer crippled the British government’s failure to tackle the influx of“dirty money” Russian in the United Kingdom, despite the intransigence displayed. The role of facilitator played by the powerful British financial sector and the armies of lawyers, accountants and other real estate agents in London are also often pointed out.
“Transparency on the identity of the true owners (UK) is essential to resolve the question of the role (from the country) as a global hub for dirty money”, Duncan Hames, an official at Transparency International, said in a statement. In particular, he calls on the British Parliament to take action to “Fill the gaps in the law”as well as State services in “actively implement” the new rules.