Boris Johnson under pressure to widen sanctions on more oligarchs in London
New anti-corruption measures to help track down Russian assets in London and confiscate “dirty money” are to be fast-tracked by the government.
Ministers plan to bolster unexplained wealth orders, which can be used to seize illicit assets. The orders have had limited success to date after legal challenges.
The government will also shortly announce its proposed reforms of the Economic Crime Bill, which will include a register of overseas property ownership and reforms to Companies House. Labour has criticised the government after years of delays in implementing the reforms.
Boris Johnson said last week that the government would set up a “kleptocracy cell” in the National Crime Agency to target sanctions evasion and Russian assets hidden in the UK. He said it would mean London oligarchs would have “nowhere to hide”.
While the government has introduced sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine, it is under pressure to widen the measures against key figures who have amassed huge fortunes under Putin’s regime.
Ministers face calls to implement sanctions against all 35 oligarchs and “enablers” of the Putin regime on a list drawn up by the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The list, read out in parliament last week by a Liberal Democrat MP, Layla Moran, includes oligarchs with strong ties to London including Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska. The government last week named eight individuals it was sanctioning, but only two, Gennady Timchenko, a Russian investor and Putin ally, and Denis Bortnikov, deputy president of the Russian state-owned VTB bank, are on the Navalny list.
Bill Browder, a financier and critic of Russia, said those on the Navalny list should now be sanctioned by the UK, adding: “You don’t get to be an
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