Foreign Office accused of failing over corrupt Russian officials using London as a 'playground'

Edward Malnick
Updated
Bill Browder. CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, an investment fund that at one time was the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia - Jeff Gilbert
Bill Browder. CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, an investment fund that at one time was the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia - Jeff Gilbert

Ministers are being accused of dragging their feet over a promised crackdown on corrupt Russian officials using London as a “playground”.

Four months on from the introduction of a new law targeting human rights abusers with visa bans and asset freezes, the government has failed to publish a list of those facing the sanctions, despite assuring MPs that it would do so.

Campaigners said there was “no excuse” for the delay, pointing out that Canada had issued a similar list one week after publishing equivalent legislation last year.

The so-called Magnitsky law, which forms part of the Sanctions Act, was passed in May in the wake of the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury, which the government said was a Kremlin-ordered assassination.

Last week Theresa May cited the "Magnitsky amendment" as a key part of the Government's response to the Salisbury attack.

But Bill Browder, the financier leads the worldwide campaign for Magnitsky legislation, told The Telegraph: "The Canadian government produced their Magnitsky list one week after Canada passed their own Magnitsky Act in October last year.

"It’s surprising and frustrating that the British government still hasn’t published a list four months after the Magnitsky Act was passed here. It’s even more surprising in light of the Skripal assassination plot and the Russian government’s public cover up of their crime.

"There’s no excuse for the government dragging their feet and not doing anything at this point.”

John Penrose, the Prime Minister's anti-corruption champion, added: "Now the Prime Minister has shown the Salisbury attacks were approved by senior Russian Government figures, the case for hitting London’s corrupt, Kremlin-connected oligarchs hard has never been stronger.

"We need to confiscate the dirty money they and other criminals have stashed in Britain, and publish a Magnitsky-style sanctions list to name and shame people found guilty of corruption, so it’s clear they’re not welcome in the UK, and can’t do business here again."

He continued: "The USA did this way back in 2013. We need to catch up, and publish the UK version as soon as possible."

During debate on the Sanctions Act MPs insisted that the Magnitsky amendment  would have "failed in its objectives" if the Government failed to publish a public list of those targeted.

MPs including Mr Penrose said a list would serve as a deterrent and make the UK’s approach consistent with the US and Canada.

Speaking in the Commons in May, Sir Alan Duncan, the Foreign Office minister, said: "Any person sanctioned under this bill will have their name published on an administrative list, which will be publicly available."