UK Senior Officials Blocked Probe Into Money Laundering From Russia - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2018) Former UK international corruption investigator claims that in 2016 he was ordered to stop an investigation into money laundering from Russia, local media reported.

Jon Benton, the former head of the National Crime Agency's (NCA) international corruption unit told the Telegraph newspaper that in March 2016, UK financier William Browder had handed him a dossier, presumably containing information about money laundering in London by a criminal group from Russia, and Benton began to search the agency's systems for data that could confirm this information.

"After about eight to 10 weeks, we had a reasonable package that was good to go. It showed money laundering into the UK and quite enough to start a full money laundering investigation. We were pretty sure it was Russian money," Benton told the publication.

Then, Benton claimed, he had received an order to stop the investigation from a higher official linked to the UK Foreign Office.

"I was approached and taken for a coffee and basically told Bill Browder is a pain in the neck and to leave it," Benton said, adding that the same person aapproached him again later and stated that they did not conduct an investigation.

William Browder is an international financier and investor, a former employer of the auditor Sergei Magnitsky. In 1995-2007, Browder was the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia. He now lives in London. Russia has put him on an international wanted list. In 2013, a Russian court sentenced Browder in absentia to nine years in prison for tax evasion. The court also ruled that Sergei Magnitsky, a tax and legal consultant for Hermitage Capital Management, who died in pre-trial detention in 2009, developed and implemented a tax evasion scheme while working for the businessman.

Earlier this year, UK authorities have adopted the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act with the so-called "Magnitsky amendment," which allows the UK authorities to impose sanctions on those who violate human rights. The act is set to come into force upon the UK leaving the European Union.