Over 30 UK homes tied to sanctioned oligarchs remain unfrozen assets
Around £700m worth of luxury homes previously linked to sanctioned oligarchs have not been flagged for asset freezes, according to new research by campaign group Transparency International UK.
Some 33 homes, flats and office blocks across London and Surrey – including mega-mansion Witanhurst – have not been restricted on the UK property register, the group found.
Hampstead-based Witanhurst, said to be London’s second largest home after Buckingham Palace, reportedly has ties to chemicals magnate Andrey Guryev, which his lawyers have denied.
A £90m home in Kensington Palace Gardens is also on the list, reportedly with a connection to Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich. The Land Registry lists the owner as A. Corp Trustee Ltd, a Cyprus company that gave a company at Chelsea’s stadium as its service address.
Ben Cowdock, who led the research at Transparency, told City PM: “With the properties where there wasn’t a restriction on them, a lot of those are owned by offshore companies which ultimately end up in trusts.
“Because of the capacity in which it’s owned, it could foreseeably be owned by a close relationship of the person who’s not on the sanction list.”
Cowdock added that there is obviously theoretical capacity to conduct research into the UK assets of oligarchs by government, though it is lacking.
“Overall, you’ve got an issue with corporate secrecy which prevents the government from really targeting these assets,” he continued.
Three assets are owned directly by people with names matching those designated for sanctions, the research found.
“There’s fewer excuses as to why those haven’t been sanctioned yet,” said Cowdock.
A spokesperson for the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) said: “OFSI takes enforcement action in every reported case of suspected financial sanctions breach, whether they are marked as frozen by the land registry or not.
“We are going after Putin’s corrupt cronies and key Russian businesses, so far sanctioning more than 1,200 individuals and over 120 entities – the most severe and far reaching economic sanctions Russia has ever faced.”