UK sanctions 22 people in first use of anti-corruption tool

LONDON — The U.K. government used new powers for the first time Monday aimed at fighting corruption abroad, sanctioning 22 people from Russia, Africa and South America.

The sanctions list includes people accused of involvement in embezzlement, bribery, colluding with terrorists and drug trafficking, as well as 14 Russians linked to a massive fraud scheme alleged by tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, whose death in prison after implicating Russian officials inspired similar legislation in the U.S. The U.K. also passed a “Magnitsky” human rights law in 2020, as has the EU.

Two of those Russians, Dmitry Klyuev and Andrey Pavlov, were sanctioned in the U.S. in 2014 and 2017, respectively. Both Pavlov and Klyuev have been frequent visitors to the U.K., known for their lavish spending. The new sanctions mean they will be barred from returning, and any assets belonging to them in the U.K. will be frozen.

The U.K. government said the sanctions were coordinated in part with Washington.

“The measures are deliberately targeted, so the U.K. can impose sanctions on corrupt individuals and their enablers, rather than entire nations,” the government said in a statement. “They are being taken partly in tandem with the US, which is today also announcing further corruption sanctions. Acting together sends the clearest possible signal that corruption comes with a heavy price.”

Bill Browder, Magnitsky’s employer before his death, has campaigned around the world to institute sanctions against those involved in the fraud scheme, succeeding in convincing governments to name their laws after Magnitsky and becoming one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critics.

“This was an 11-year struggle that came to fruition today,” Browder told POLITICO over the phone following the U.K. announcement. “The U.K. is the world center of money laundering and corrupt capital, so these sanctions will have an outsized effect, even if it’s a country of only about 70 million people.”

The law is an amendment to last year’s human rights sanctions package.

“The news is hugely important because upgrading the regime to include corruption means many more kleptocrats and killers can be sanctioned,” said Browder.