The measures are part of the Labour govt tightening Britain’s anti-corruption sanctions regime.
The UK has barred Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos and Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash and frozen their UK property, the federal government introduced, in what it stated used to be a part of a brand new crackdown on “grimy cash”.
The measures on Thursday had been step one in tightening Britain’s anti-corruption sanctions regime as promised in July’s election, the Labour govt stated.
“Those unscrupulous people selfishly deprive their fellow electorate of much-needed investment for training, healthcare and infrastructure – for their very own enrichment,” International Secretary David Lammy stated in a commentary.
Dos Santos, whose father Jose Eduardo dos Santos served as Angola’s president for 38 years till 2017, is Africa’s first feminine billionaire and has confronted corruption accusations in Angola and somewhere else for years. She denies the allegations and says she is the objective of a long-running political vendetta.
She used to be sanctioned via america in 2021 for “involvement in important corruption” and is barred from coming into the rustic.
Britain stated dos Santos abused her positions at Angolan state oil company Sonangol and telecoms corporate Unitel to embezzle a minimum of 350 million kilos ($440m).
Dos Santos misplaced an enchantment to overturn an order freezing as much as 580 million kilos of her property in September as a part of a lawsuit at London’s Top Court docket introduced via Unitel. International police company Interpol has issued a crimson realize for her.
In a commentary cited via the Reuters information company, dos Santos stated that the British sanctions had been “improper and unjustified”.
“I used to be no longer given the chance to protect myself in opposition to those allegations,” she stated. “I intend to enchantment and I am hoping that the UK will give me the chance to offer my proof.”
Dmytro Firtash, one in every of Ukraine’s maximum influential oligarchs, at an ordeal in Vienna, Austria [File: Samuel Kubani/AFP]
Firtash is sought after via Ukrainian and US government on suspicion of embezzling just about $500m involving Ukraine’s fuel transit gadget. He says the costs are with out felony basis.
He’s lately in Austria preventing extradition to america.
In June 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree enforcing sanctions on Firtash, together with the freezing of his property and withdrawal of licences from his corporations, after accusing him of promoting titanium merchandise to Russian army corporations.
Britain stated Firtash had extracted “loads of hundreds of thousands of kilos from Ukraine thru corruption”, and hidden tens of hundreds of thousands of kilos of ill-gotten positive aspects in the United Kingdom belongings marketplace by myself.
Britain additionally sanctioned his spouse Lada Firtash, who it stated held UK property on his behalf together with the web site of the previous Brompton Street rail station of the London Underground.
Latvian businessman and flesh presser Aivars Lembergs, who used to be placed on a US sanctions record in 2019 for alleged corruption, used to be additionally sanctioned, as used to be his daughter Liga Lemberga. The British govt stated Lembergs had “abused his political place to devote bribery and launder cash.”
Lammy stated the consequences had been the beginning of a crackdown.
“I dedicated to taking over kleptocrats and the grimy cash that empowers them once I turned into overseas secretary, and those sanctions mark step one in turning in this ambition,” he stated.
