The Independent has reported how many bankers, lawyers, accountants and lobbyists of all shapes and sizes have transformed from the highest paid in London over decades into an army that defends the interests of the Kremlin and covers its assets.
Ben Judah believed that the Russian attack on Ukraine would change this medium forever, as the package of sanctions against the Kremlin - announced by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the House of Commons yesterday, Saturday - froze the assets in all major Russian banks, and this package imposed a decision to freeze similar assets. On more than 100 Russian companies and businessmen, as well as a travel ban.
The writer states that these sanctions will undermine "London grad", a phrase used to denote the haven that the City of London provides to Russian investors and businessmen.
Limiting the amount of money a Russian citizen can deposit in a UK bank account, preventing Russian companies from raising funds in the kingdom's markets and the Kremlin from issuing sovereign debt in the markets will disrupt the London market for the remainder of Putin's reign.
And if Britain succeeds in removing Russia from the system of global interbank financial communications (SWIFT), this haven will be on the verge of complete extinction.
The writer shows that London has become a global center for corruption services due to decades of lax British laws, poor enforcement of existing laws, and the lack of any tough decisions by the institution of governance.
He points out that despite intense pressure from activists and the Kremlin that has led to improved British laws in recent years, the UK operates an anti-money laundering system that appears real at first glance but is vulnerable because written laws are not upheld by law enforcement, sanctions or prosecutions. Judicial.
As a result - the writer adds - Transparency International has estimated that more than 100 billion pounds are laundered annually in the United Kingdom, which is more than double and a half times what Britain spends annually on the defense budget, indicating that the absurd thing in this is that many of the This money destabilizes fragile states or finances hostile authoritarian regimes.
The writer points out that Britain must do more than just expel Putin's friends from London and stop this chain of money laundering, stressing that despite years of measures against money laundering in real estate, more than 100 billion pounds of property in England and Wales It is still owned by unknown parties.
The writer shows that the Kazakh political elite, with blood on their hands in the latest Putin-backed crackdown, has more than £530 billion in property in London alone.
He thinks it is important that activists and politicians now pressure Boris Johnson to make good on his promises to end "golden visas" and reform the system in the upcoming Economic Crimes Bill including reforms to the Companies House, a registry of overseas property ownership. As well as the formation of a new cell in the National Crime Agency to expose the evasion of sanctions and the corrupt Russian assets hidden in the United Kingdom.
clean fortune
Ben Judah stresses that the National Crime Agency should not wait for war crimes to start investigating these corrupt people with unjustified wealth, but rather Britain should put in place laws that restrict the amount of money that prominent politicians receive from corrupt countries so that they can prove that their sources of wealth are clean Then you should start cleaning up the system with new legislation to stop funding malicious agendas that end up funding political parties in the UK.
In addition, British political life is isolated from the issue of "second jobs" that MPs and their peers obtain with corrupt and tyrants and their state-owned companies and interests.
And if Britain does not do this - adds Judah - its role will be limited to expelling the corrupt Russians from London, and will not include those who are involved with all other regimes in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, which use the British financial system and foreign tax havens located in Britain to achieve their interests, indicating Not only should the corrupt be prosecuted, but the British bankers, lawyers and lobbyists who run their money and hide their fortunes and seek to silence journalists in illegal defamation cases and seek to burnish their image.