Britain is chasing the fortunes of the oligarchy.. Find out the amount of Russian money smuggled to London

LONDON

term "Putin's oligarchy" has become so popular in Western media reports and politicians' speeches that US President Joe Biden spoke of the need to fight this "oligarchy" in the union's address to the US Congress.

What is meant by the oligarchy - in the tradition of the Western media - is rich businessmen and politicians close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who have investments abroad worth tens of billions of dollars.

When talking about "Putin's oligarchy", the British capital London appears, as one of the largest financial centers that receives Russian money, and according to many British and international reports, London is one of the largest centers of money laundering in the world.

This explains the British government's quickness to issue a number of sanctions against Russian businessmen in Britain, and its threat to the Russian rich, "the owners of dirty money, to follow up and not give them a chance to hide," according to British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

The paradise of smuggled billions

A study by Transparency International UK revealed that there is the equivalent of $2 billion in real estate distributed in the United Kingdom and its owners are Russian figures accused of financial crimes or related to the Kremlin.

According to the same institution, most of these properties are owned by secret companies established outside Britain, adding that the illegal wealth that is invested in the UK is very high.

The British Foundation estimates that there are suspicions of money laundering around 90,000 properties spread in most British cities, all of which are affiliated with secret or completely unknown companies, which makes the task of the British government to inventory these properties a difficult task.

A study of the same institution shows that companies registered in the United Kingdom and the islands of the British Crown are used in order to cover up the flow of illegal money to various countries of the world.

In its study, the Foundation counted more than 2,189 companies used in money laundering, including 48 Russian companies suspected of being dedicated to money laundering and involvement in corruption cases, and the amount of money flowing into these companies is $85 billion.

The researchers who conducted this study found that there are 700 companies established abroad that own real estate in the United Kingdom, including 35 Russian companies.

official recognition

In a report - issued by the British Ministries of the Interior and the Treasury - on money laundering and terrorist financing for the year 2020, the British government acknowledges that 2% to 5% of Britain's internal product is money laundered, according to United Nations estimates.

The official report adds that this figure appears realistic given the position occupied by London as the largest financial center in the world. Indeed, the Ministry of the Interior admits that the money laundered in the country exceeds tens of billions of dollars, and there is an estimate from the Financial Crime Prevention Agency in Britain that talks about 100 billion dollars. It is washed annually in the country.

The same report asserted that the UK had received "a significant amount of illicit Russian or personal finance", which is being spent on luxury real estate, luxury cars, school fees or enrolling in private schools, and donations to charities and cultural organizations "that allow individuals to launder their reputation and not just their money." ', the expression here for the British Home Office.

Endless money

And in a lengthy article on the newspaper "The Guardian" by British writer Olivier Boloh - who has written many books on corruption in Britain, and money laundering in London in particular - he confirms that the process of inventorying illegal Russian money in the country is a complex process, and is not always progressed. real picture.

Says the author of the book "How big is corruption in Britain?"

(How corrupt is Britain) The Russian Federal Statistics Service says that Russian investors own financial assets in the UK worth 3.5 billion dollars, and in contrast, the British Statistics Office says that the total Russian investments (whether financial or through projects and companies) amount to about 30 billion dollar.

These amounts are "simple sums" from the writer's point of view, who says that the investments coming from Finland exceed them by about 4 times, before he puts his hand on the source of the disease, which is the Russian money that is transferred to other countries, especially to the tax havens before it reaches Britain, This money is not counted as Russian.

Since the majority of money leaves Russia through tax havens, official figures do not provide the true picture of the illegal Russian money in the country.

The British writer says that over the past decade, a total of $75 billion flowed from Russia to the islands and regions of the British Crown, some of which are tax havens, and this amount is about 7 times more than the amount that arrived directly in the United Kingdom.

The writer stresses that the tax havens and the British financial system allow any Russian official "who has a fortune that exceeds his salary to hide his identity and spend his money in London without anyone realizing that he is a fraud."

French economist Thomas Piketty, who is director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sociale Sciences (EHESS), says that the total wealth of Russians held abroad by tax havens is estimated at about $800 billion, and by few people do not. Their number exceeds hundreds, and the French scientist confirms that they consider London one of their favorite cities to live and spend their money, and concludes with a meaningful phrase, "Post-communism has become the worst ally of savage capitalism."