Britain is no longer investigating how oligarch Friedman circumvented sanctions – Bloomberg

Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman/Collage 24 Channel

Sanctioned Mikhail Fridman found a way to circumvent sanctions, and this came to the attention of British law enforcement. However, from now on the oligarch’s loopholes will not be studied.

The UK has stopped its investigation into the sanctioned Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman. This was stated by the British National Crime Agency (NCA).

Why they stopped investigating Friedman's case

The agency was investigating Friedman's case in connection with the likely payment of a loan from Alfa Bank to his executive assistant even before sanctions were imposed against him.

The billionaire's London home searched late last year. It was spectacular asmore than 50 officers “stormed Friedman’s £65 million ($80.8 million) mansion in north London and arrested the 59-year-old businessman, seizing digital devices and a significant amount of cash,” the journalists write. Friedman himself, of course, said the raid was illegal. At a court hearing in July, he said the search was based on “incriminating evidence,” including a 15-year-old report , which contained a number of unproven criminal charges.

Now theNCA has admitted that the search warrant contains “technical errors”. They say they will not take any further action against Mikhail Fridman based on the warrant executed at Athlone House in December 2022.

This is a huge turnaround for the NCA, as the billionaire was the most a high-profile target of a new unit aimed at wealthy Russians created after the invasion of Ukraine. In December, he covered the raid on social networks, publishing a statement and a photograph of the officers present in the oligarch’s house, writes Bloomberg.

The NCA, which began as an agency dedicated to fighting organized crime, sought to refocus on combating the enormous influence of the oligarchs and their cronies in the UK. Itannounced the creation of an “anti-kleptocracy unit” whose task is to fight those close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime.

An investigation into regarding suspects associated with Friedman who “are subject to a broader investigation.”

SBU against Friedman

Although the billionaire refused to comment on the NCA's decision, the investigations did not end there for him. On September 5, the SBU informed Fridman of suspicion – hefaces up to 8 years in prison with confiscation of property. The department noted that “the suspect is hiding from justice abroad, and comprehensive measures are now ongoing to bring him to justice.”

The suspicion is under the article on the financing of actions committed with the aim of a violent change or overthrow of the constitutional order or seizure state power, changes in the boundaries of the territory or state border of Ukraine, committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.

Friedman, from the beginning of the full-scale invasion, “poured” about 2 billion rubles into several military factories in Russia. Among them are the Tula Cartridge Plant, which produces cartridges, as well as the Ural Optical-Mechanical Plant named after Yalamov, which produces high-tech equipment for combat aircraft and helicopters.