‘Deeply concerning’: UK Government urged to publish review on Russian investors
Former SNP MP criticises ‘continued failure’
IT is “deeply concerning” the UK Government is refusing to publish a review into a visa scheme which allowed at least 10 sanctioned Russian oligarchs to take up UK residency, an ex-MP has said.
A review of the Tier 1 visa scheme – sometimes known as the “golden visa” – was launched in 2018 in the wake of the nerve agent attack targeting former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.
The scheme – closed in February 2022 – allowed super-rich individuals to buy the right to live in the UK by investing in British-registered companies.
Former home secretary Suella Braverman said in a statement last year the review had found a minority of golden visa investors were “potentially at high risk” of having links to corruption or organised crime, including 10 Russians sanctioned following the Ukraine invasion.
However, the UK Government is refusing to publish the review in full and is palming off freedom of information requests asking for sight of it.
It comes several years after concerns were raised by the Foreign Affairs Committee about the risks of “turning a blind eye to London’s role in hiding the proceeds of Kremlinconnected corruption”.
International relations expert Stephen Gethins, who was an MP between 2015 and 2019, said the UK Government’s refusal to publish the review showed a “continued failure” to be open and transparent on Russian infiltration.
He told The National: “I think the fact this report is not being published in full is deeply concerning. Be open and transparent.
“We’re now 10 years on from Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine and two years on from the full-scale invasion.
“Prior to the full-scale invasion, there were inquiries I was involved in, there were cross-party inquiries, that raised very serious concerns about finances and connections with Russia and I think we owe it to all of those in Ukraine to be as open and transparent as possible.
“There were a number of significant failures prior to the full-scale invasion that we know maybe gave Putin confidence in what he was doing. There were failures to tackle his wars in Syria, Czechia and Georgia, but also failures across the political spectrum in areas of disinformation and in terms of finance.
“The fact this is a continued failure 10 years on from the initial invasion and six years on from the publication of the report from the Foreign Affairs Committee on Moscow’s Gold points to a continued failure to be open and transparent. It needs to be tackled.”
The Moscow’s Gold report by the Foreign Affairs Committee – published in 2018 – said the “strong rhetoric” in responding to the Salisbury attack was “undermined” by the fact President Putin and his allies “have been able to continue ‘business as usual’ by hiding and laundering their corrupt assets in London”.
It concluded the UK Government must show “stronger political leadership in ending the flow of dirty money into the UK”.
The UK’s Intelligence and Security Committee’s “Russia report” – completed in March 2019 and eventually published in mid-2020 – warned that “the exploitation of the UK’s investor visa scheme” was “the key to London’s appeal” for Russian oligarchs and their money.
It noted a number of members of the House of Lords had business interests linked to Russia, or worked directly for major Russian companies linked to the Russian state and suggested they should have to register individual payments of more than £100 which they receive for any employment outside the House, as MPs do.
Boris Johnson refused to release this report to the public prior to the General Election in 2019 and it took until July 2020 before it was released.
Despite insisting the UK Government responded “reasonably well” to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Gethins said it is now incumbent upon ministers to “dig deeper” to ensure there is “no space for financing the Russian war effort”.
He added: “We need to have a serious conversation about how we counter that threat that’s coming from Russia in a way we have failed to do in the past decade.
“This is all the more important now when we see that the US … is not as reliable a partner as many Europeans had taken it to be in terms of European security.
“The UK may have done reasonably well in the immediate aftermath [of the full-scale invasion], but it’s not just about the arms supplies getting through, it’s also about making sure there is no way and no space for financing the Russian war effort. So my urge would be to dig deeper and look at what more you can do.
“This isn’t just an issue for the UK Government but for other European governments too.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have published findings from the review which gathered information on high-risk individuals, including law enforcement partners.
“To protect operational sensitivities … we will not make any further comment, at the request of agencies.”
I think we owe it to all of those in Ukraine to be as open and transparent as possible