‘Putin’s henchmen’: should lawyers be barred from acting for oligarchs?

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions imposed on oligarchs’ assets, UK law firms have come under increased scrutiny for their work with these high net-worth individuals.

In March, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that “white-collar collaborators” should be challenged over their work with wealthy Russians close to President Vladimir Putin, including lawyers. Addressing the Commons, Conservative MP Bob Seely also accused “amoral lawyers” of teaming up with “Putin’s henchmen” to help protect their assets and offer “a form of legalised intimidation to silence their rivals”. 

“People have the right to advice and legal representation, but they are abusing it very, very badly in our society at the moment”, Seely told fellow MPs. 

Newspapers have also told ministers that “prestigious British law firms” have helped oligarchs to “prevent legitimate media scrutiny of their activities”, The Guardian reported. So should there be a clampdown on the country’s legal sector? 

Who’s working for who? 

Seely “questioned the morality” of four lawyers during his address to MPs, said the Evening Standard. He used parliamentary privilege to name John Kelly from Harbottle Lewis, Geraldine Proudler from CMS, Nigel Tait from Carter Ruck and Hugh Tomlinson QC from Matrix Chambers and accuse them “of working on behalf of Putin’s allies”, City A.M. reported. 

Kelly and Proudler acted for oligarchs Roman Abramovich, Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven in a court hearing in which they sued journalist Catherine Belton over her book Putin’s People, according to The Times. Tomlinson also “appeared for Abramovich” in the case.

Tait has worked for Boris Berezovsky, “the late Russian who was first a party colleague of Putin before falling out with him”, the paper continued. 

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly also said that BCL Solicitors LLP had contacted his department on behalf of “billionaire business-magnate” Alisher Usmanov, The Law Gazette reported. An investigation into the assets of 35 oligarchs close to Putin has identified $3.4bn (£2.6bn) worth of assets belonging to Usmanov, the former Arsenal shareholder, said the BBC.

Oligarchs “play essential roles in Putin’s Russia”, said The Atlantic. “They provide invaluable public support for the regime, lead key companies and institutions, and distract attention from and, by some accounts, help conceal the president’s own enormous wealth”. 

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/law/956383/should-lawyers-be-stopped-from-acting-for-oligarchs