into irrevocable trusts, and from that point on he didn t own them. but an investigation by the bbc, the guardian and the organized crime and corruption reporting project has found that the trusts holding sutton place and beechwood house have been linked to mr usmanov and one of his closest business associates. campaigners say it shows how difficult it is to establish who the owners of assets actually are when they are hidden in offshore tax havens. well, the problem is that whilst the government has introduced legislation in recent days to try and go after the suspect assets of individuals, say, linked to the kremlin or corruption cases in russia, it s going to be doing this with one hand tied behind its back because of the secrecyjurisdictions in the overseas territories and the crown dependencies. the government says sanctions are having an impact, saying mr usmanov cannot access his assets, and it is now illegal for any person or company in the uk to do business with him. andy veri
to own nearly a third of arsenal. three weeks ago the government announced it was freezing all his uk assets, but how effective will those sanctions really be? mr usmanov s $600 million yacht was reportedly seized in hamburg, but the german authorities later denied that. days later, the uk government targeted two huge properties in the south of england, beechwood house in north london, now estimated to be worth about £80 million, and also a tudor manor house in surrey once owned by the world s then richest man, paul getty. this gilded gate behind me is as close as the public can get to sutton place, one of the assets the government says alisher usmanov has bought with his billions. but he says he s given away much of his estate, and that raises serious questions as to how the government s going to enforce its sanctions. mr usmanov has now said his assets were transferred long ago
and that raises serious questions as to how the government s going to enforce its sanctions. mr usmanov has now said his assets were transferred long ago into irrevocable trusts, and from that point on he didn t own them. but an investigation by the bbc, the guardian and the organised crime and corruption reporting project has found that the trusts holding sutton place and beechwood house have been linked to mr usmanov and one of his closest business associates. campaigners say it shows how difficult it is to establish who the owners of assets actually are when they are hidden in offshore tax havens. well, the problem is that whilst the government has introduced legislation in recent days to try and go after the suspect assets of individuals, say, linked to the kremlin or corruption cases in russia, it s going to be doing this with one hand tied behind its back because of the secrecyjurisdictions in the overseas territories and the crown dependencies. the government says sanctions are
mr usmanov s $600 million yacht was reportedly seized in hamburg, but the german authorities later denied that. days later, the uk government targeted two huge properties in the south of england, beechwood house in north london, now estimated to be worth about £80 million, and also a tudor manor house in surrey once owned by the world s then richest man, paul getty. this gilded gate behind me is as close as the public can get to sutton place, one of the assets the government says alisher usmanov has bought with his billions. but he says he s given away much of his estate, and that raises serious questions as to how the government s going to enforce its sanctions. mr usmanov has now said his assets were transferred long ago into irrevocable trusts, and from that point on he didn t own them. but an investigation by the bbc, the guardian and the organized crime and corruption reporting project has found that the trusts holding sutton place and beechwood house
The seizure is part of EU sanctions against billionaires with close ties to Putin, in an effort to get them to put pressure on the despot to halt his war in Ukraine.