UK decides to stop providing Kremlin financial data of wealthy Russians
The UK Government has stopped automatic exchange of financial information with Russia. Russian news outlet The Bell writes that this decision has been taken by the British HM Revenue and Customs agency. Now, the Russian Federal Tax Service will have to submit a special request to obtain last year’s data on the Russian citizens with assets in the UK.
Russia joined the list of jurisdictions with which London is exchanging tax information in 2018. In March, it was also reported that the assets of Russians were found in 58 countries.
Since January 31, 2018, British courts can request foreign owners of assets in the country to provide information on the status of the property (Unexplained Wealth Orders).
This provision was incorporated is the Criminal Finances Act 2017 and allows state bodies to demand that owners of real estate and assets worth more than 50 thousand pounds explain the origin of the funds.
If the owner refuses or cannot explain the source of capital, his property will be seized. The law also applies to “politically significant persons.”