the times | Friday April 8 2022 2GM 15
News
Abramovich partners avoid
sanctions on £100m empire
Miranda Bryant tions by the UK, EU or the US. Evraz
shares were suspended from trading on
the London Stock Exchange on March
10 after Abramovich was placed under
UK sanctions. Abramov founded Evraz
and managed its 2005 listing in
London. In 2017 he was pictured with
Putin and Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s de-
fence minister, at an award ceremony
where he was awarded the Decoration
for Beneficence.
Dame Margaret Hodge, the Labour
MP, told the Commons that Abramov
was among a group of Russian billion-
aires who made their wealth “only
because they are close to the Kremlin”.
When the government sanctioned
Abramovich it said that Evraz may pro-
duce steel for the Russian military, in-
cluding its tanks. The company denies
this, saying that it only makes steel for
construction and infrastructure.
Abramov and Frolov’s investment
portfolio is reportedly run by Vollin
Holdings, a company based in the Brit-
ish Virgin Islands, a tax haven. Its in-
vestments are worth more than €
million, according to The Guardian, and
are managed by Kew Capital LLP and
promoted by Decimus Real Estate,
both of which are based in Mayfair.
Decimus, which describes its team as
“long-term investors, developers and
asset managers in global real estate”,
declined to comment and Evraz did not
immediately respond to inquiries.
Two unsanctioned Russian billionaires
who are business partners of Roman
Abramovich have a £100 million British
property empire, according to leaked
documents.
The steel barons Alexander Abram-
ov and Aleksandr Frolov, who were
named on the US Treasury’s “Putin
List” of 210 prominent Russians, are un-
derstood to have investments in UK
properties exceeding £100 million.
Their UK portfolio is believed to in-
clude investment in a company trying
to acquire a majority stake in west
London’s Shepherd’s Bush Market, an
office in Mayfair, a rejected redevelop-
ment of All Souls Church in Maryle-
bone and office space in London,
Leicester and Glasgow, according to
documents seen by The Guardian. Pre-
vious investments are understood to in-
clude historic British pubs, including
the Black Cap in Camden.
Outside the UK their investments re-
portedly include the Caribbean island
of West Caicos, which is to be devel-
oped as a luxury resort, and a golf
course community in Prague.
Despite the considerable scale of
these investments — and a combined
29 per cent stake in Evraz, the Russian
steel producer named in sanctions
against Abramovich — the business
partners have not been subject to sanc-
Regulators are carrying out spot
inspections on law firms accused in
parliament of being home to “amoral
solicitors” working for “Putin’s hench-
man”.
Officials at the Solicitors Regulation
Authority confirmed that they were
targeting “a sample of firms to assess
compliance with the financial sanc-
tions regime”.
The move from the body that can dis-
cipline, fine and strike off solicitors
from the roll in England and Wales,
came slightly more than a month after
a Conservative MP named three solici-
tors in the House of Commons as
having acted for Russian oligarchs.
Bob Seely, the MP for the Isle of
Wight, questioned in the House “how
our legal systems have become so cor-
rupted” as he blamed some solicitors
for effectively running “one-stop cor-
ruption” shops.
Seely used parliamentary privilege to
name Geraldine Proudler, a partner at
CMS, an international law firm based
in London, John Kelly at Harbottle &
Lewis and Nigel Tait at Carter-Ruck,
who are both defamation specialists.
All three lawyers have denied any
wrongdoing or breach of professional
rules.
It has emerged in papers from the
authority’s recent board meeting thatSecurity guard denies
passing secrets to Russia
Kieran GairSuspicions
over seized
private jet
Sean O’NeillInvestigators are trying to untangle the
shadowy history of a private jet de-
tained last weekend on suspicion of
links to the Putin ally who runs the
notorious Wagner Group mercenary
unit.
Flight data suggests the Gulfstream
550, which landed at Luton airport with
no passengers, flew from Dubai.
Grant Shapps, the transport secre-
tary, placed a flying restriction on the
aircraft on Saturday because intelli-
gence suggested it had been used by
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who runs the
Kremlin-backed Wagner Group.
Known as “Putin’s chef” because of
his catering contracts with the Kremlin,
Prigozhin’s paramilitary unit is used by
Moscow to supply mercenaries in con-
flict zones around the world.
Using new powers that make it illegal
for aircraft owned, operated or char-
tered by Russians to fly from or land in
the UK, the government has grounded
four private jets and a helicopter. They
include two jets belonging to the sanc-
tioned billionaire Eugene Shvidler, a
close associate of Roman Abramovich,
and one owned by the Russian banker
Oleg Tinkov. A helicopter ordered by
the Russian company Helico and ready
for export was also seized.
Nigerian media linked the aircraft to
Prigozhin after he was said to have met
senior military figures there last June.
The jet had been managed by Sonnig
International Private Jets until two
months ago and is now owned and con-
trolled by Falcon Wings.
Falcon Wings said it had instructed
lawyers in London to challenge the
detention of its aircraft and said there
was “no connection between the plane
and this Russian businessman”.News
Watchdog inspects lawyers
accused of links to oligarchs
Jonathan Ames Legal Editor regulators have begun “a process of
spot checks” of some of the firms.
According to minutes of the board
meeting, officials had already begun
“visits to those firms named in the par-
liamentary debate” and would be “en-
gaging in further visits as part of our on-
going rolling programme of inspections
to ensure compliance with the money
laundering regulations”
The watchdog reported that it was
“reminding firms of their obligations to
comply with anti-money laundering
requirements and the sanctions re-
gime” and was ensuring that “they un-
derstand their obligations and the im-
portance of compliance in this area”.
Law firms are already under strict re-
quirements to ensure that they do not
accept dirty money from clients — ei-
ther as payment of fees or to be held on
account.
But the regulators signalled that they
anticipated that the government would
follow the lead of several US states by
legislation to curb so-called Slapps,
strategic litigation against public par-
ticipation.
Slapps involve wealthy individuals
threatening or actually initiating defa-
mation or privacy litigation proceed-
ings against publishers or campaign
groups to stifle reports of potentially il-
legal activities.
The solicitors’ watchdog said that it
had issued guidance on “balancingduties in litigation including Slapps”.
The authority said that it would brief
the Ministry of Justice and the solicitor-
general on its investigations.
Proudler — who was once on the
board of the Scott Trust, the body that
oversees the Guardian — and Kelly
acted in the court case involving the
book Putin’s People.
The author of Putin’s People, Cather-
ine Belton, and the book’s publisher,
HarperCollins, were sued by Roman
Abramovich, the oligarch owner of
Chelsea Football Club whose assets are
frozen, Mikhail Fridman and Petr
Aven.
Tait has acted for Boris Berezovsky,
the late Russian businessman who was
a party colleague of Putin before falling
out with him.
Proudler’s firm said that CMS and
she “strongly reject the allegations of
impropriety”, adding: “We have re-
viewed the steps taken in our media liti-
gation practice and are confident that
these were compliant with all profes-
sional regulations as well as our wider
responsibilities at the time.”
Tait, the managing partner of Carter-
Ruck, said then the firm was “not
working for any Russian individuals or
companies seeking to challenge, over-
turn, frustrate or minimise sanctions
and it follows that we have written no
letter of the kind you describe to the
government”.A
rtists created a “lake of
blood” in front of the
Russian embassy in
Vilnius, the capital of
Lithuania, to protest
against the invasion of Ukraine.
The Olympic gold medallist Ruta
Meilutyte swam in through the lake,
which was filled with
environmentally friendly red dye, as
part of the protest.
Berta Tilmantaite, one of the
artists behind the project, called
Swimming Through, said: “It’s a call
to not remain neutral in the face of
the war. A call to take an active part
in protecting the lives, the freedom
and the democracy of Ukrainian
people who are being tortured,
raped and killed by Russia.
“It is important not to get numb to
the horrific images of mass killings
of Ukrainians and their pain.
“The seemingly never-ending
horrors imposed by Russia on
Ukrainian land must not become the
norm. With countries such as
Germany not stepping up and
imposing adequate sanctions,
choosing money over people, makes
it hard to remain hopeful. The
bloody pond emphasises Russia’s
responsibility for committing war
crimes against Ukrainians.”
Meilutyte said on Instagram: “It’s
crucial that we keep acting,
spreading truthful information,
volunteering, protesting, donating,
and pressuring our governments to
take action.”
Meilutyte won gold at the 2012
Games in London and at the 2013
world championships. She also won
European titles in 2014 and 2016.
She served a two-year ban from 2019
for failing to make herself available
for drug testing.Artists create
lake of blood
at embassy
MINDAUGAS KULBIS/AP; EAST2WEST NEWSrelating to the oper-
ation and layout of the
British Embassy in Ber-
lin”, which was calculated to
be “directly or indirectly useful” to the
Russian state.
It is alleged that Smith made un-
authorised photocopies of documents,
video recordings of the embassy’s
CCTV system and kept Sim card pack-
aging that he had been asked to dispose
of.
Smith communicated information
about building repairs at the embassy
after being “approached by a person
you believed to be a member of the Rus-
sian Military Intelligence (the GRU)”,
the charges claim.
Smith appeared unemotional in
court and spoke only to confirm his
name and age and to request a hearing
loop. He said he no longer has an
address.A security guard at the British embassy
in Berlin who is accused of spying for
Russia passed secret information about
the government and several members
of the civil service to a Russian military
attaché, according to court documents.
David Smith, 57, a British citizen who
was living in Potsdam, near Berlin, was
remanded in custody to appear at the
Old Bailey on Wednesday. At a hear-
ing at Westminster magistrates’
court yesterday he entered
not-guilty pleas to nine of-
fences under the Official
Secrets Act.
He is accused of col-
lecting information
from the embassy and
passing it to a person
he believed was a rep-
resentative of the Rus-
sian state, according to
the Crown Prosecution
Service.
According to court docu-
ments, Smith allegedly at-
tempted to communicate by letter
with General Major Sergey Chukhur-
ov, the Russian military attaché based
out of the Russian embassy, Berlin.
The material “contained details
about the activities, identities, address-
es and telephone numbers of various
members of Her Majesty’s civil service”,
in breach of the Official Secrets Act.
Smith allegedly committed the
offences between October 2020 and
August last year. He was arrested by
German police on August 10 and was
extradited to Britain on Wednesday.
He is accused of committing acts
prejudicial to the safety and interest of
the state by gathering information
classified as secret about the “activities
of Her Majesty’s government”.
He also allegedly “collected materialDavid Smith, a
British citizen,
was arrested in
his home in
Potsdam, left.
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