Campaigners query UK government’s ability to identify oligarchs’ assets

theguardian.com:

The British government’s ability to investigate the true ownership of properties has come into question after researchers found £700m of luxury homes previously linked to sanctioned oligarchs are not flagged for asset freezes.

The campaign group Transparency International UK has identified 33 houses, flats and office blocks in London or Surrey that are not marked as restricted on the UK property register, which it says have been publicly linked to sanctioned individuals, raising questions about whether they should have been flagged.

The properties in question include Witanhurst, a £50m house in Hampstead said to be London’s second biggest home after Buckingham Palace, and other valuable homes previously linked to the former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich and the aluminium billionaire Oleg Deripaska.

Three are owned directly by people with names matching those designated for sanctions. A £31m home in Holland Parkhas an owner listed as Vladimir Evtushenkov, the largest shareholder in Russian IT company Sistema, and two flats in exclusive parts of Hampstead and Westminster have owners listed as Yuri Soloviev, an influential banker.

Soloviev was chair of the board of VTB, a bank with alleged close links to Russia’s government, although the bank has since reportedly said he left the board on the day the invasion of Ukraine started. Soloviev and VTB did not respond to requests to comment. Evtushenkov and Sistema declined to comment.

Oligarchs hit by sanctions are banned by law from selling property without explicit permission under an asset freeze that permits transactions only for the necessities to live, such as utility bills and food. Restriction notices on the Land Registry’s titles alert potential buyers, estate