Posts Tagged ‘UK’
Britain’s High Court throws out libel suit related to dead Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky
Britain’s High Court on Monday threw out a libel case brought by a former Russian police officer against a London-based financier who is a fierce critic of corruption in Russia.
Retired policeman Pavel Karpov sued Hermitage Capital Management and its chief executive, William Browder, who has accused Karpov of being part of a network of corrupt officials complicit in the death of a Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky.
Judge Peregrine Simon dismissed the suit, ruling that Karpov had only minor links to Britain and “there is a degree of artificiality about his seeking to protect his reputation in this country.”
Browder called the judgment a victory against so-called libel tourism — the practice of litigants taking cases to court in Britain, even when there is no strong link to the country, because the British legal system is perceived as friendly to their claims.
“I think this is a precedent-setting case,” Browder said “If you are a dubious foreign chancer, this precedent makes it much less likely you will succeed in the libel courts.”
The case is part of the labyrinthine saga surrounding the death of Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer hired by Hermitage Capital, who accused Russian police officials of stealing $230 million in tax rebates after illegally seizing Hermitage subsidiaries.
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Press Release: The case for a British Magnitsky Act
Campaigners urging the British Government to adopt stringent sanctions against Russian officials suspected of torture and corruption have renewed their call for action, as a new poll reveals overwhelming public support for the measure.
Despite two European Parliament resolutions calling for member states to impose visa sanctions and asset freezes on Russian officials involved in the arrest, torture and death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, as yet the Government has failed to follow the lead of the US in passing the Magnitsky Act, which places travel and financial sanctions on those suspected of crime and human rights abuses in Russia and names those involved in a public US Government listing.
Parliamentarians and campaigners have said the failure to bring about a British law similar to the Magnitsky Act undermines David Cameron’s call at the G8 Summit for a crackdown on tax transparency and has enabled corrupt officials to do business freely and with impunity in the UK.
A new YouGov poll commissioned by the Henry Jackson Society think tank has revealed the vast majority of the British public would support legislation to refuse visas and freeze the assets of Russian officials who are believed to be involved in corruption, torture and human rights.
Key results of the survey of 1,860 people include:
·Overall, almost three quarters of those polled (72 per cent) said they would support a British Magnitsky Act, compared with just six per cent who would oppose such a measure. This rises to 78 per cent of Conservative voters.
·72 per cent of people believe corruption in Russia is widespread, with four per cent believing it is not widespread.
·Just 14 per cent of those polled believe the British Government is doing as much as could be reasonably expected to stop money from Russian crime and corruption entering the UK. 46 per cent of Conservative voters and 49 per cent of Labour voters believe the Government should be doing more.
Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society Dr Alan Mendoza said: “We in the West have a responsibility to halt the spread of human rights crimes and corruption in the Russian political system.
“The inaction of the British Government in bringing about a law which would rightly place sanctions on those suspected of serious human rights abuses makes a mockery of our ability to pose as champions of freedom and liberty.”
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UK poll shows ‘huge’ public support for Magnitsky sanctions against Russian officials
A new poll reveals overwhelming public support in the UK for sanctions against Russian officials suspected of torture and corruption.
Campaigners have pressed the British government to follow the US precedent by passing a version of the Magnitsky Act, which imposes travel and financial sanctions on officials suspected of human rights violations in Russia and publicly names those culpable in a government listing.
A new YouGov poll commissioned by the Henry Jackson Society think tank shows that the vast majority of the British public would support legislation to refuse visas and freeze the assets of Russian officials believed to be involved in corruption, torture and human rights violations.
Key results of the survey of 1,860 people include:
· Overall, almost three quarters of those polled (72 per cent) said they would support a British Magnitsky Act, compared with just six per cent who would oppose such a measure. This rises to 78 per cent of Conservative voters.
· 72 per cent of people believe corruption in Russia is widespread, with four per cent believing it is not widespread.
· Just 14 per cent of those polled believe the British Government is doing as much as could be reasonably expected to stop money from Russian crime and corruption entering the UK. 46 per cent of Conservative voters and 49 per cent of Labour voters believe the Government should be doing more.
“The UK poll shows that British government should do much more than they have already done to ban corrupt Russian officials and human rights abusers,” said William Browder, Founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management and former client of Sergei Magnitsky (above).
The Sergei Magnitsky Act was named for the tax lawyer arrested in 2008 after revealing that Russian officials had orchestrated a tax refund fraud to transfer $230m of state funds to a criminal syndicate. He died in jail after being assaulted and denied medical treatment.
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No notification regarding Magnitsky list from London – Russian FM
Russia has not received an official notification from the UK authorities on banning Russian officials on the US Magnitsky List from entering the UK, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
“We have not received any official notifications to this effect from the UK authorities,” he said at a joint news conference following his talks with Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean.
Lavrov added that “the UK authorities have said more than once that they do not intend to compile similar lists.”
“A provocation cannot be ruled out, because there are many high-profile issues in the European and global media space from which some people would like to create a diversion,” the Russian Foreign Minister said.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the UK Home Office has banned 60 Russian officials allegedly involved in the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 from entering the UK.
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Russians linked to Sergei Magnitsky case banned from entering UK
The Home Office has barred 60 Russian nationals linked to the Sergei Magnitsky whistleblower case from travelling to the UK.
Mr Magnitsky, a lawyer who worked for London-based hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management, died in a Moscow jail in 2009 after accusing senior Russian police officers of organising a $230m (£153m) fraud in league with tax officials. He died after being beaten and denied medical treatment for pancreatitis.
The Home Office issued the bans after the Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe published a list of the 60 officials in June last year, Telegraph.co.uk has learned.
The move is likely to prompt retaliation from the Kremlin, which banned American parents from adopting Russian children in reprisal agaisnt the US issuing visa bans and freezing the assets of some of the officials implicated in the case.
The Home Office’s barring of the Russian was contained in a previously unreported Parliamentary response in April to a written question from Dominic Raab.
Mr Raab, the Conservative MP for Esher & Walton, asked the Home Office if any of the 60 Russians had visited the UK in the last year.
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Britain Bans Entry to Russian Officials Linked to Magnitsky Case
Britain has banned entry to 60 Russian officials implicated in the Sergei Magnitsky case, The Daily Telegraph reported.
A list drafted by the U.S. Helsinki Commission, chaired by Senator Benjamin Cardin, contained the names of officials suspected of being involved in a $230 million tax fraud uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer for investment fund Hermitage Capital, or in Magnitsky’s death in prison in 2009.
The Magnitsky law was passed by the Senate in December and requires the White House to publish the names of those suspected of human rights violations, including those linked to the fraud uncovered by Magnitsky or to his death.
In April, the U.S. Treasury Department published a list 18 officials who are subject to visa bans and asset freezes in the United States.
The Home Office’s ban was contained in a previously unreported Parliamentary response in April to a written question from Dominic Raab.
Mr Raab, the Conservative MP for Esher & Walton, asked the Home Office if any of the 60 Russians named on the draft list had visited the UK in the last year.
In response, immigration minister Mark Harper said: “The Home Office Special Cases Directorate is already aware of the individuals on the list and has taken the necessary measures to prevent them being issued visas for travel to the UK.”
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UK companies accused of money laundering in Magnitsky probe
British companies laundered millions of pounds stolen from the Russian Treasury in a $230m (£150m) tax fraud that has triggered a major diplomatic battle between the Kremlin and the US, it has been alleged.
At least £35m passed through the foreign bank accounts of about 10 UK registered front companies to “clean” the money, an investigation has found. The alleged 2007 fraud at the heart of the case has been linked with five deaths, including that of Russian anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, whose story has been turned into a play and documentary.
Evidence that the UK system has been abused prompted one MP to demand the Government follow the US’s lead and ban the 60 Russians implicated in the fraud and Mr Magnitsky’s death, including a number of state officials, from entering the country.
Dominic Raab MP said: “We don’t want Britain to become a playground for these gangsters, let alone a battleground for the violence that tends to follow.”
Among the UK companies named is Nomirex, a shell company owned in Cyprus than names a Cypriot yoga teacher as its director. Between 2007 and 2009, its accounts stated it was “inactive”. However, an investigation by the BBC’s Panorama found that $365m was transferred through its Latvian bank account in that time.
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No UK ban for Russian suspects
David Lidington said it was the long -running policy of the Government to deny entry to individuals believed to be responsible for human rights abuses.
But challenged by the Tory benches in the Commons to commit to following the United States’ lead in creating a Magnitsky Act and barring named individuals from entry, the Minister declined.
Under the Magnitsky Act, signed into law by President Obama last year, American officials last week named and barred 18 Russian government officials from the US. The Russians responded with a list of their own.
Speaking at an adjournment debate in the Commons, Mr Lidington said the case was “deeply troubling” and of great concern.
But he told MPs: “I’m afraid we have to conclude from what has happened in recent weeks in Russia is there is no evidence to suggest the passage of the act in the United States has brought any closer or is likely to bring any closer the outcome all of us wish to see – which is justice for Mr Magnitsky’s family and a thorough, above board investigation into his death.
“Altering our own fair and long established practice of entry requirements for foreign nationals seeking to come to the UK is unlikely either to contribute to achieving justice for Mr Magnitsky.”
Mr Lidington said the presence of “credible evidence” allowed people to be denied entry under current rules.
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The £1 Million Visa
‘This is like the Cold War,’ a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said in December after President Obama signed the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. ‘We will retaliate.’ The act allows for the public naming of Russian officials involved in ‘extrajudicial killings, torture or other gross violations of internationally recognised human rights’. It also allows for their US assets to be suspended and for them to be barred entry into the States.
Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian corporate lawyer who was tortured and died in Butyrka Prison in Moscow in 2009 after accusing various Russian bureaucrats of perpetrating a $230 million tax fraud. The law named after him is targeted at the many corrupt Russian officials who act with impunity at home and then spend their ill-gotten gains in the West. But of course the US isn’t the favoured destination of rich Russians. Most prefer to keep their property, wives, mistresses, football teams, newspapers and children in the UK. What would really hurt corrupt Russian officials is a Magnitsky Act here. But will it happen?
A cross-party motion calling on the government to institute a UK version of the Magnistky Act was approved by the Commons last March. Sponsored by the Tory MP Dominic Raab, who calls Magntisky ‘the new Solzhenitsyn’, the British act would apply not just to Russians but internationally: it would allow for the naming, shaming and banning of corrupt officials from any country. The government responded by saying that a devotion to human rights was ‘at the heart of our DNA’, then argued that it already had a mechanism for excluding undesirables by denying them visas. It would not, however, commit to listing publicly the names of those excluded.
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