UK has not renewed Roman Abramovich’s visa
Oligarch and owner of Chelsea football club returns to Russia
5 hours ago
Roman Abramovich did not attend Saturday’s FA Cup final, which Chelsea, the team he owns, won 1-0 © EPA
- Roman Abramovich misses FA Cup final after visa expired
- Home Office does not comment on why investor visa has not been issued
- Linked to residence applications in Jersey and Switzerland
London-based Mr Abramovich, who is Britain’s 13th richest man according to the Sunday Times with £9.3bn, left the UK after his investor visa expired and did not attend Chelsea’s 1-0 win in the FA Cup final on Saturday. According to two people close to him he has returned to Russia.
He also did not testify as expected last week in a London court dispute between two other Russian oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Potanin.
Pressure is growing to take action against Russian oligarchs in London after the poisoning in March of ex-Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a rare nerve agent in Salisbury. At the time, foreign secretary Boris Johnson promised that the UK would “go after the money” in retaliation of the attack.
David Davidovich, an associate of Mr Abramovich’s holding company Millhouse, told the court that Mr Abramovich was in Switzerland preparing to appear as a defendant in a separate case.
“There’s something up with his visa. I don’t know what it is and they don’t know what it is either. Let’s hope they sort it out soon,” a fellow Russian oligarch said.
One person close to Mr Abramovich said that the request for a visa had not been denied, but that the UK authorities were taking longer than usual to renew it without offering any explanation. A spokesman for Mr Abramovich declined to comment.
The Home Office declined to comment. “We do not routinely comment on individual cases,” said security minister Ben Wallace.
Bob Seely, a Conservative MP, said: “Either there is an innocent explanation [for the delay in Mr Abramovich’s visa], or the government is becoming less sympathetic to Russian oligarchs in the UK. Either way, denying visas to oligarchs is potentially important.”
The news of Mr Abramovich’s visa limbo was first reported by independent Russian news site The Bell.
Funding for new Chelsea stadium unclear
“These things happen for mysterious reasons. It must be very frustrating for him not to be able to visit his beloved Chelsea,” said William Browder, a fund manager who campaigns for sanctions against the flow of Russian money into western capitals.
Chelsea, which Mr Abramovich bought in 2003, did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The billionaire is known to take a close interest in club affairs, though its day-to-day management is under the control of Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia and chairman Bruce Buck.
Chelsea has obtained planning permission to build a new £500m stadium at Stamford Bridge, preparing to break ground on the project in the coming years. It remains unclear how the stadium project will be funded. People close to the plans have said Mr Abramovich, possibly alongside other investors, could cover the cost without the need to tap the club’s finances.
The Premier League was not aware of the delay to Mr Abramovich’s visa. As a club owner, Mr Abramovich will undergo the League’s yearly fit-and-proper person test before the start of the season in August, although visa status is not a criterion in itself.
Jersey offered residence to Abramovich
Mr Abramovich grew his fortune in Russia’s turbulent 1990s by acquiring privatised oil and gas assets from the state, then selling them back to Kremlin at a large profit. He has spent much of his time in London since buying Chelsea, where he owns an estate on the so-called Billionaire’s Row in Kensington Palace Gardens.
The US named Mr Abramovich on a public “Kremlin Report” of oligarchs in January.
That month, the authorities in Jersey made Mr Abramovich an offer of residency, which would see him pay no capital gains tax or inheritance tax and a one per cent income tax rate following an initial payment of £145,000 a year. Mr Abramovich has not taken up the offer, according to a person close to him.
In February, Swiss newspapers reported that Mr Abramovich had twice applied for a residency permit there in 2016 and 2017. Mr Abramovich sued to have the information deleted, but Switzerland’s highest court ruled in favour of the newspapers, Le Matin Dimanche and Sonntags Zeitung. Mr Abramovich withdrew his application, according to a person close to him.
Home secretary Amber Rudd said in March that Britain would review Tier 1 visas given between 2008 and 2015 to businessmen prepared to invest at least £1m, including about 700 Russians. The qualifying amount has now been raised to £2m.
On its website the Home Office tells applicants: “You should get a decision on your visa within 3 weeks.”
According to Transparency International, almost a quarter of all such visas handed out by the UK government between 2008 and 2015 went to Russians, accounting for a minimum of £729m in investment.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has repeatedly encouraged oligarchs to “de-offshorise” their wealth, but with little success. Despite high demand for a $3bn Russian eurobond late last year, only $200m was bought by oligarchs under special amnesty terms.
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