The government’s ability to investigate the true ownership of properties has come into question after researchers found £700m of assets linked to sanctioned oligarchs but not flagged for freezes.
The campaign group Transparency International UK has identified 33 houses, flats and office blocks in London or Surrey that are not marked as restricted on the UK property register and which it says have been publicly linked to sanctioned individuals, raising questions about whether they should have been flagged.
The properties in question include Witanhurst, a £50m house in Hampstead said to be London’s second-biggest home after Buckingham Palace, and other valuable homes previously linked to the former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich and the aluminium billionaire Oleg Deripaska.
