The UK has issued fresh sanctions against a series of “unscrupulous kleptocrats”, including Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash and Angolan billionaire Isabel Dos Santos, as it cranks up its crackdown on corruption and dirty money.
Foreign secretary David Lammy announced the move today, also issuing sanctions on Aivars Lembergs, one of Latvia’s richest people, and associates of the three high-profile targets.
Lammy accused the sanctioned individuals of “selfishly depriving their fellow citizens of much-needed funding for education, healthcare and infrastructure for their own enrichment”, as he issued the designations made under the UK’s Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations 2021.
He stressed his commitment “to taking on kleptocrats and the dirty money that empowers them” and insisted this move was only “the first step”.
“The tide is turning,” he said, claiming that “the golden age of money-laundering is over”.
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Who has been sanctioned?
Firtash, the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) said, has been accused of extracting hundreds of millions of pounds from Ukraine through his control of and his control of gas distribution networks, and has since used some of his allegedly ill-gotten gains to buy UK property. His wife Lada, who holds UK assets on his behalf, including the Old Brompton Road tube station site, has also been sanctioned, alongside Denis Gorbunenko, a UK-based financial fixer who facilitated Firtash’s corruption.
Firtash is wanted by the Ukrainian and US authorities on corruption charges, which he has reportedly denied.
Dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s former president, was once dubbed ‘Africa’s richest woman’ and stands accused of embezzling at least £350m from state-run firms, the FCDO said.
She has been under an Interpol Red Notice since November 2022 and lost a UK Court of Appeal case last month over her worldwide asset freeze. Her business partner Paula Oliveira, and chief financial officer Sarju Raikundalia, have also both been sanctioned.
In a statement to Reuters, dos Santos said that the British sanctions were “incorrect and unjustified”.
While Lembergs, the department said, abused his political position to commit bribery and launder money, hiding proceeds in trusts – including in the name of daughter Liga Lemberga, who is similarly sanctioned.
In 2021, Lembergs was found guilty of 19 charges including extorting bribes, forgery of documents, money laundering, and improper use of office in a court in Riga, the FCDO said.
What do campaigners say?
But campaigners have urged the government to go further, calling for full investigations into the origins of the wealth that these foreign kleptocrats have brought into the UK to see whether it is the proceeds of any crimes.
Labour MP Joe Powell, All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) chairman on anti-corruption and responsible tax, said the three main figures that have been sanctioned were “some of the world’s most notorious kleptocrats” and supported the government’s efforts.
Lawyer Oliver Windridge, from the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition’s sanctions working group, called the move a “big marker” and “the start of the UK getting serious about using all the tools available to combat kleptocracy… that drives conflict and insecurity across the world”.
But fellow Labour MP Phil Brickell, who is also a member of the APPG, warned he was worried that “without total financial transparency” across the UK and its overseas territories “the world’s crooks and kleptocrats will continue to evade sanctions by hiding their dirty money offshore”.
Wealth investigations
Author and anti-corruption campaigner Oliver Bullough stressed: “What we need now are investigations into the provenance of the wealth these people brought to the UK.
“And if that wealth is shown to be criminal, for it to be confiscated and returned to the people of Ukraine, Angola and Latvia.”
Rachel Davies Teka, from Transparency International UK, described today’s action as the “most welcome gear-shift” that “addresses some of the historic flood of dirty money into our economy”.
But she stressed: “For the tide to finally turn, cross-departmental efforts will be vital to strengthen regulation of the professionals who enable it, and [action must be taken] to ensure Britain’s offshore financial centres finally embrace transparency, by opening up company registers to public scrutiny.
“We look forward to seeing these ambitious plans in the government’s upcoming anti-corruption strategy.”