Roman Abramovich faced calls to be stripped of his right to own a football club today after bombshell documents linked him to Vladimir Putin’s regime and ‘public association with corrupt activity and practices’.
The billionaire Chelsea owner has faced renewed focus on his business activities in recent days as Russia prepared and then launched an all-out attack on Ukraine.
And today Labour MP Chris Bryant used parliamentary privilege to share a leaked Home Office document in the Commons.
He said the document was from 2019, and questioned why no action had yet been taken against the 55-year-old based on its warnings.
As business questions this morning the Rhondda MP and former minister said: ‘I have got hold of a leaked document from 2019 from the Home Office which says in relation to Mr Abramovich – ”As part of HMG’s Russia strategy aimed at targeting illicit finance and malign activity, Abramovich remains of interest to HMG due to his links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices.
”An example of this is Abramovich admitting in court proceedings that he paid for political influence.
”Therefore HMG is focused on ensuring that individuals linked to to illicit finance and malign activity are unable to base themselves in the UK and will use the relevant tools at its disposal, including immigration powers to prevent this”.
‘That is nearly three years ago and yet remarkably little has been done in relation. Surely Mr Abramovich should no longer be able to own a football club in this country? Surely we should be looking at seizing some of his assets including his £152million home? And making sure that other people who have had Tier 1 Visas like this are not engaged in malign activity?’
In 2011 the High Court heard that Mr Abramovich had used the well-connected oligarch Boris Berezovsky as his ‘political godfather’ to help him conduct business deals in a country where police were ‘corrupt’ and courts ‘open to manipulation,
The court heard the Chelsea owner believed it was his ‘moral obligation’ to hand Mr Berezovsky £1.3billion to fund his lavish lifestyle.
The Chelsea owner gave his former friend the cash because he felt it was part of the ‘code of honour’ that had replaced the rule of law in Russia after the collapse of communism, it was alleged.
Today’s developments came as reports suggested Mr Abramovich has effectively been barred from living in Britain ever again.