adminLONDON. – Roman Abramovich will have to prove his wealth is legitimate after Whitehall launched a war on oligarchs.
The billionaire Russian owner of Chelsea football club is effectively banned from Britain until he can show his money is clean.
Other super-rich oligarchs in Britain also face being caught up in the clampdown on foreign cash deemed “not conducive to public good”.
It follows months of tensions between the UK and Russia in the wake of the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.
The Government blamed Russia for the attack, with Theresa May describing the incident as “despicable” and expelling a number of Russian diplomats.
On Monday night Britain’s tough stance on foreign money sparked a furious backlash from the Kremlin.
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman condemned the UK’s “unfair and unfriendly” approach to Russian businessmen. The crackdown means Abramovich, who is away from Britain and missed his club’s FA Cup win on Saturday, is being treated as a “new applicant” for a UK visa, it is understood.
Under new rules to stamp out “dirty money”, the oligarch – who is close to Putin – will have to demonstrate that his fortune is above board.
Abramovich is worth £9.3billion. Technically, he will need to show that at least £2million of his investment in the UK is from legal sources.
He has held UK visas for many years, but the rules were tightened in 2015, after he obtained his most recent 40-month visa.
Abramovich, Britain’s 13th-richest man who bought Chelsea in 2003, was last in the UK in early April. – Mailonline.
Online Reporter