The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has detained a 58-year-old Russian businessman in London on suspicion of money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the Home Office and perjury in a major deal, The Independent found out.
An unnamed Russian was detained on December 1, it has become known about this now. The man was detained in a house worth several million pounds, the newspaper notes.
Two possible accomplices of the businessman were also detained. One of them is a 35-year-old man who left the house at the time of his arrest with a bag containing thousands of pounds in cash. The third detainee, a 39-year-old man, a former lover of the businessman's current partner, was arrested at his home in the Pimlico area on suspicion of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud. All three were released on bail after talking to NCA workers.
Graham Biggar, CEO of the NCA, said the NCA team, created this year, is investigating the criminal activities of oligarchs as well as those associated with the Russian regime. According to the NCA, nearly 100 actions have been taken against the elite associated with Vladimir Putin and their collaborators, including an account freeze, which has helped eliminate or reduce the threat.
Now the European Commission is developing the ninth package of sanctions against Russia. Among other things, the EU intends to introduce secondary restrictions against individuals and legal entities that helped sanctioned persons circumvent the bans. In March, The Insider uncovered several telling examples of deputies whose families owned assets in the West before the sanctions.
Russian real estate abroad is also seized by activists who oppose corruption and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In March, in Biarritz, local activist Pierre Affner entered the villa of Putin's daughter Alta Mira, changed the locks, and declared that the villa was ready to receive refugees affected by the Putin regime, primarily Ukrainians. In London, activists seized Deripaska's mansion. They hung a Ukrainian flag on the facade of the building and banners with the inscriptions "Property is vacated" and "Putin, go to hell." The activists planned to open a mansion, which they say has “too many rooms, including a cinema and a wine cellar,” for Ukrainian refugees and those in need of asylum.