Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD Putin, Corbyn & Russian money...

In Parliament on March 13th, 2018, after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, Corbyn drew attention to the Govt “resisting Labour’s amendments to the Sanctions & Anti-Money Laundering Bill that could introduce the so-called Magnitsky powers”.

The @Conservatives responded with cries of “shame” & “disgrace”, which were loudest when Corbyn attacked them for having so many extremely wealthy Russian donors giving them huge amounts of cash.

But ignore the backbenchers, & listen instead to Putin's actual opponents.

What do those brave men & women around the world risking their lives to fight Putin have to say? A cursory look will tell you that what they have to say sounds rather more like Jeremy Corbyn than anything then PM Theresa May or any other Tory at the time had to say on the matter.

The Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza has twice been poisoned & twice almost killed, by what he & others maintain were agents of the Russian state.

Kara-Murza dedicates most of his life trying to convince Western states to bring in meaningful “Magnitsky powers”.

Magnitsky powers are named after Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian lawyer of British-born businessman Bill Browder, who died in Russian police custody in 2009.

Mr Browder maintains he was murdered as a consequence of uncovering fraud in the country.

A tax expert, Magnitsky had uncovered an elaborate tax refund fraud scheme involving Russian government officials who, using company documents & seals taken in a raid on investment fund Hermitage Capital Management, set up shell companies to steal US$230 million in public funds.

For that, he was arrested, detained for almost a year without trial, & subjected to abuse & neglect that killed him.

Magnitsky’s death shocked Russian civil society activists, & resulted in the 2012 US Magnitsky Act.

Kara-Murza, along with William Browder, co-founder of Hermitage Capital, played a notable part in the events that led, in 2012, to the passing of the US bipartisan "Magnitsky Act" - AKA the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 - by the US Congress .

The bill was passed, & signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2012, intending to punish Russian officials responsible for the death of Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009, & also to grant permanent normal trade relations status to Russia.

Since 2016, the US bill authorises the US Govt to sanction those it sees as human rights offenders, freeze their assets, & ban them from entering the US.

The UK has vaguely similar legislation, but successive UK Govts have been reluctant to be as forthright as the Americans.

For example, it wasn't until July 2020 that the UK imposed sanctions on 49 named individuals including those implicated in the deaths of Magnitsky & Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

It was said at the time by William Browder that sanctions from the UK have particular cultural clout due to the desires of many wealthy individuals from overseas - especially Russia - to have a ‘house in Belgravia’ or send their children to British boarding schools.

It wasn't until May 2018, that the UK passed the Sanctions & Anti-Money Laundering Act, made necessary by the EU referendum decision to ensure that the UK’s international obligations were upheld.

Since 2008, successive Governments have offered a "Golden Visa" scheme

"Golden Visas" offer rich foreign investors fast-track residency, to encourage wealthy people from outside the EU to invest in the UK. After concerns were raised, the Govt claimed to have 'cleaned it up' in 2015, but more than 200 Russian millionaires bought “golden visas” since.

The scheme was finally closed altogether just last week (17/2/2022), as diplomatic relations with Russia reached breaking point. It had allowed 13,000 wealthy elites to jump the immigration queue if they promised to invest millions into British companies.

opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-…

“Exploitation” of 'golden visas' led the UK to become a “particularly favourable destination for Russian oligarchs & their money. The UK welcomed Russian money, & few questions – if any – were asked", according to a report by the UK Intelligence & Security Committee in 2020.

As Kara Murza said in an interview in 2017: “In Soviet Russia, the politburo were putting dissidents in jail & engaging in anti-Western propaganda, but they did not keep their money in Western banks. They did not send their kids to study in British schools. These guys do."

Speak to Browder, Kara-Murza & others, & the point they will always hammer home is that the UK is in a uniquely strong position to act against Vladimir Putin & the Russian state, by passing laws that allow governments to seize the assets of corrupt foreign officials held abroad.

This was precisely what Jeremy Corbyn was articulating in March 2018, which was met with loud howls of derision by @Conservatives, who knew full well that their Party & individual Tory MPs were funded to the tune of £MILLIONS by often highly questionable Russian money.

Just days after Corbyn had called for stricter sanctions & the fast-track implementation of Magnitsky style sanctions against wealthy Russians, & less than a month after he'd faced ludicrous front-page Communist spy allegations, @BBCNewsnight used a controversial representation.

I'll not rehash the @BBC's disgraceful denials & obfuscation concerning 'Corbyn's hat' - it's crystal clear from the graphic that it's not just the hat that was the problem - the largely unreported problem was, & still is, the Tory party's dependence on dirty Russian money.

It's obvious, given that London is the global haven for the wealth exfiltrated from the Russian people by its ruling elite, & the Conservative Party is heavily indebted to Soviet-born oligarchs for millions of pounds in donations, that Boris Johnson & his Govt are compromised.

Liz Truss denies it is damaging that Tories have received £2 million in donations - benefitted Dominic Raab, Rishi Sunak & five other MPs who attend cabinet - from people with links to Russia since Boris Johnson became PM: 'the money will not be returned'.
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/russian-…

Boris Johnson’s reluctance to deal with Russian money flooding into London & into this own party’s coffers is more than just greed or opportunism: Putin’s billionaire-based oligarchy holds up a dark mirror to the same tendencies within the British state.

bylinetimes.com/2022/02/18/vla…

It's a very sad fact that after a 12 years of Tory Governments, #ToryBritain is profoundly & catastrophically broken.

Our Government of cruel & corrupt liars & charlatans are completely out of control.

We all need to pull together to eject them asap. 🙏

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1496486728936349696?s=20&t=5mQIdrlFB8t76j6f70ysMQ

Where are we now?

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1494633265147355140?s=20&t=5mQIdrlFB8t76j6f70ysMQ