Dozens of unseized properties in Britain found belonging to sanctioned russian oligarchs

This was reported by The Moscow Times, citing the British branch of Transparency International.

The organisation's analysts identified 33 properties — houses, flats and office buildings — located in London and Surrey that were not included in the British register of frozen assets.

Among them is Witanhurst in Hampstead, the second largest house in London after Buckingham Palace. This property is allegedly linked to Andrey Guriev, owner of the PhosAgro group, although his representatives deny this.

The report also mentions a £90 million mansion in Kensington Palace Gardens, which is believed to belong to billionaire Roman Abramovich. According to the land registry, the owner is listed as the Cypriot company A. Corp Trustee. Its address is a building at Chelsea Stadium, which was previously owned by Abramovich.

Research director Ben Koudok commented to City A.M.: ‘Many of the properties that are not subject to restrictions are owned by offshore companies registered to trusts.’

He added that in a number of cases, the property may be owned by relatives of individuals on the sanctions lists, which allows them to formally circumvent the restrictions. "In theory, the British government has the ability to investigate the origin of assets, but in practice, such tools are virtually non-existent. Overall, the problem of corporate opacity remains, which prevents effective control of these assets," Koudok stressed.

According to Transparency International, three properties are directly owned by people whose names match those on the sanctions lists. ‘It is becoming increasingly difficult to explain why measures have not yet been taken against these individuals,’ the expert added.

Source: Economic Pravda, The Moscow Times