May turning blind eye
British PM accused in parliament of turning blind eye to continuous Russian money-laundering in the UK and claims of sending Putin ambiguous message
The all-important Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Westminster warned yesterday that the government Theresa May is jeopardising national security. The committee chairperson, Tom Tugendhat said “There is no excuse for the UK to turn a blind eye as President Putin’s kleptocrats and human rights abusers use money laundered through London to corrupt our friends, weaken our alliances, and erode faith in our institutions.”
The damming report, entitled Moscow Gold: Russian corruption in UK, believes that May is proving ambiguous in this regard. “Despite the strong rhetoric [Theresa May], President Vladimir Putin and his allies have been able to continue operating as usual laundering and hiding their ill-gotten assets in London.” Tugendhat added that “These assets directly or indirectly support the campaign of President Putin to subvert the international system, undermine our allies and erode international networks that mutually strengthen UK foreign policy.”
The UK is engaged in a diplomatic war with Russia. Tensions rose after the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter on March 15, and London accused Moscow of being behind it. In retaliation, May expelled 23 Russian diplomats. Immediately, activity by large Russian companies such as Gazprom increased on UK markets with enormous investments. Such actions could undermine the stability of the UK’s financial system.
Transparency International (TI) has already accused the UK of allowing money stolen from public funds or bribery of foreign countries to be invested there.