djnotts wrote: ↑22 Mar 2022, 1:14pm
Well, there's a surprise:
"A Russian billionaire sanctioned by the UK says he no longer owns many former properties, potentially putting them beyond the reach of the law.
Ex-Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov's £82m London home and Surrey mansion were put into trusts linked to the oligarch.
This raises questions over the effectiveness of sanctions imposed since the invasion of Ukraine began........."
He and no doubt many others took full advantage of the lengthy window between announcements and action.
Needs a simple law that says no appeal allowed against an admin decision just to seize assets. Any lawyer who acts on a sanctioned Russians behalf to be struck off and jailed for 10 years.
On 8 March British MPs gave President Volodymyr Zelensky a standing ovation for his speech (according to the BBC). This was the day after they had rejected the following ammendments to the 'Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill ':
New Clause 2 - Report on funding of enforcement agencies - "This new clause would require the Secretary of State to publish and lay before Parliament a report on the funding of enforcement agencies in connection with the reforms to unexplained wealth orders, as provided for in Part 2 of the Bill."
In other words, tell our parliamentary representatives that the enforcement of sanctions is being funded properly, not just by two part-timers in a back office with no support structure.
Defeated by 303 votes (all Tory) to 230 (3 Tories plus the rest of the house).
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/ ... 0.2#g150.4
New Clause 7 - 38A Further reforms to Companies House - "This new clause would compel the Secretary of State to publish draft legislation on reforms to Companies House, including reforms that would support the operation of the Act.".
Companies House (where companies in UK must register their information about who the front etc) has NO powers to investigate whether what they are told by foreign companies registering in the UK is true, no powers even to share data with enforcement agencies. This clause provided for investigating whether what was being told to Companies House was in fact the truth.
Defeated by 302 votes (all Tory) to 223 (the rest of the house).
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/ ... 4.0#g154.2
New Clause 29 - Asset freezing in respect of individuals considered for sanctions - "This new clause would prevent individuals whom the Secretary of State has named as being considered as a subject for sanctions from selling their assets or moving funds or assets out of the UK."
If UK is to effectively sanction criminals abroad, their assets need to still be available to place those sanctions on. Without this clause, Economic Crime (which cost the UK £Billions yearly and supports the Russian state amongst other gangsters) continues without effective sanction. Assets can simply be moved to a new owner (potentially set up and uninvestigated via Companies House) in order to escape untouched.
Defeated by 297 (all Tory) to 234 (6 Tories and the rest of the house)
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/ ... 8.0#g159.1
Edit to add: Freeze is not sieze, this was a simple workable solution defeated by massed Tory votes.