May is urged to ‘expose’ Putin’s wealth

THE TORY chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee has urged the Prime Minister to “use the tools at her disposal to expose the wealth” of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his family in the wake of the nerve agent attack.

Speaking in the Commons following Theresa May’s statement on the incident in Salisbury, Tom Tugendhat called on the Government to “expose him for what he is and not be a useful idiot hiding behind legalism of his crimes”.

His comments yesterday came as Liberal Democrats leader Sir Vince Cable urged the Government to use its legal powers in relation to unexplained wealth orders.

Mr Tugendhat (Tonbridge and Malling) said: “May I thank the Prime Minister for her impressive leadership in this matter.

“I associate myself actually unusually with the leader of the Liberal Democrats in calling for more use of unexplained wealth orders.

“But could I also ask her if she will use the tools at her disposal to expose the wealth of the Putin family.

“Three billion dollars (£2.15 billion) or more has been stolen from the Russian people by that man.

“We should expose him for what he is and not be a useful idiot hiding behind legalism of his crimes.”

Responding to Mr Tugendhat, Mrs May said: “Can I thank him for his contribution and suggestion, can I also say on the unexplained wealth orders, of course those are tools that we do use but we have to use properly in accordance with the rule of law following the due processes that should take place.”

Sir Vince added that both he and his party fully supported Mrs May’s statement.