Enjoying Mcmafia? The real thing is on here

A crackdown by the security minister on Russian oligarchs shows their activities are flagrant

As with most television dramas, there are aspects of the plot line of the BBC’S Mcmafia series that stretch the bounds of credulity. The notion that a public school-educated wimp like Alex Godman (played by the underwhelming James Norton) could find himself caught up in a network of villains comprising Russian oligarchs, Indian drug-dealers and Israeli money-launderers all seems a bit far-fetched. Real-life oligarchs associated with Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, surely, are more preoccupied with maintaining their interests in Russia than breaking into new markets such as the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

But then, to judge by the grave warnings issued by Ben Wallace, the security minister, we do need to pay far closer attention to the antics of Russian oligarchs. Mr Wallace knows a thing or two about the threat Russia poses to our security from the time he spent serving as a Scots Guards officer in Germany. And he wants to crack down on the wilder excesses of oligarchs who operate in the UK.

In what officials are calling a “full spectrum” attack on those suspected of corruption or links to organised crime, Mr Wallace intends to use orders to seize their assets. This could have a serious impact on the capital’s property market given that, in recent years, an estimated one in 10 homes in prime central London have been bought by Russians.

Mr Wallace’s initiative is also well-timed, as the issue is prominent in many people’s mind as they seek escape from dull winter nights by watching Mcmafia. This stringent approach, moreover, is vital if the British authorities are finally going to get a grip on the more nefarious activities of some of Mr Putin’s acolytes.

Previously, most of the attention has been on the murders and deaths in unexplained circumstances that have afflicted Uk-based members of the oligarch community, who seem unusually prone to falling from hotel balconies or dying suddenly after ingesting suspicious substances. A recent report suggested American and British intelligence officials believe 14 deaths in the UK could be related to Russian assassins.

But British security officials have also expressed concern about the relative ease with which Russian businessmen who are known to have close ties with Mr Putin are able to operate in the City of London. For example, Sir Mike Penning, a former defence minister, has tabled two parliamentary questions to Chancellor Philip Hammond and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson about the implications the flotation of a Russian energy company on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) at the end of last year might have for our national security requirements.

Raising foreign capital has become an obsession for the Kremlin since Russia was hit with sanctions following its annexation of Crimea. So Britain’s security establishment, which regards Mr Putin’s Russia as posing a grave threat, was surprised at the ease with which Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire who is a good friend of Mr Putin, was able to float his energy company, En+, in the first major Russian flotation following the imposition of sanctions in 2014.

Mr Deripaska, one of Russia’s wealthiest men, is best known in Britain for inviting George Osborne for drinks on his yacht in 2008, sparking accusations – furiously denied – that the former chancellor (who now edits the Russian-owned Evening Standard) was seeking a donation for party funds.

Apart from being Russia’s largest energy supplier, En+ owns Rusal, the country’s major aluminium producer. Rusal produces high grade aluminium powder of the type used in the manufacture of Russian warplanes and missiles, such as the Buk antiaircraft missile system which is blamed for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight 17 over Ukraine in July 2014.

Mr Deripaska is estimated to have raised around $1 billion from last November’s float. En+ later announced that it had used almost the entire amount to pay off debts it owed to the government-owned VTB Bank. The bank is one of many Russian financial institutions subject to US sanctions, so one accusation that can be levelled is that, by allowing the En+ flotation on the LSE to go ahead, Britain has inadvertently helped Russian banks to evade sanctions.

British security officials, though, who continue to take a close interest in Rusal’s relationship with the Russian military, are equally concerned about the apparent lack of oversight applied to what was clearly a contentious financial undertaking.

As one Whitehall security veteran told me: “The really worrying aspect of this affair is that no one seems to have considered the national security implications of allowing this flotation to go ahead.”

Now that politicians of all stripes – Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake has also raised the issue in the Commons – are questioning the flotation, perhaps more care will be taken in future when considering Russian activity in the City.