>#Botched mansion raid sinks case against Russian oligarch
>__Mikhail Fridman to be compensated for unlawful operation at his £65m home__
>Sean O’Neill
>Friday September 15 2023, 5.00pm BST, The Times
>A ten-month criminal investigation into London’s last Russian oligarch has collapsed after the National Crime Agency admitted its armed raid on his mansion was unlawful.
>Allegations of conspiring to circumvent sanctions, money laundering, fraud and perjury against Mikhail Fridman, 59, have been dropped. The NCA will have to pay damages for trespass, cover Fridman’s legal bills and return seized cash.
>The abandonment of the case is an embarrassment for the NCA’s Combating Kleptocracy Cell, which was set up in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to investigate sanctions evasion.
>More than 50 officials, including armed police, specialist search teams, Europol officers and a lawyer, took part in the raid on Fridman’s home — the £65 million Athlone House in Highgate, north London — last December.
>In court papers the NCA said the mansion was believed to be “the largest property ever searched by UK law enforcement in terms of warrant execution”.
>__‘Screaming, sirens and masked policemen’__
>The raiding party arrived at 7.26am with ladders and a battering ram and tried to scale the walls before security guards opened the electronic gates. Fridman and members of his staff were arrested and money, documents and computers were seized.
>Fridman, who started in business in the violent Moscow of the 1990s, told The Times he had been disturbed by “screaming, sirens wailing and dozens of armed, masked policemen storming into my house”.
>The oligarch said the NCA tactics were “unjustified and senseless”, adding: “When they put handcuffs on me and read the text of the warrant, I couldn’t believe my ears. Because of this absolutely straightforward matter, 51 masked policemen and a dozen vehicles conducted a whole special operation, blocking the entire neighbourhood.”
>Security guards testified that officers were shouting to open up but were standing in front of the sensors and preventing the gates from opening.
>Nerijus Kuskys, Fridman’s estate manager, told The Times in July: “I was treated like a common criminal and animal. We were all shocked and scared.”
>Graeme Biggar, director-general of the NCA, praised the raid and congratulated his officers on their “significant success investigating potential criminal activity by oligarchs”. He promised to “continue to use all the powers and tactics available to us to disrupt this threat”.
>__Wrong date scuppered raid__
>The case unravelled as lawyers for Fridman — who moved to the UK in 2014 and helped to set up the LetterOne group, which owns Holland & Barrett — pulled apart the NCA case.
>It emerged that a judge had entered the wrong date on the search warrant, writing 2021 instead of 2022, and the document was neither signed by an identifiable NCA officer nor specified the area to be searched.
>Material in support of the warrant appeared to have been cut and pasted from a dossier posted on the internet in 2008 to discredit Fridman and alleging he had “historical and ongoing involvement in organised crime”. It is an allegation he totally rejects.
>NCA officers claimed Fridman jumped out of a window and attempted to run away but his lawyer testified that CCTV showed him “walking calmly and slowly towards the officers with his arms raised”.
>Government lawyers concede the raid was “unlawful and the NCA is liable in damages for trespass to land and goods”, and Fridman is “not currently subject to any NCA criminal investigations of conspiracy to circumvent sanctions”.
>His passport has been returned and bail conditions requiring him to report to police twice a week have been dropped.
>However, Fridman — who described the invasion of Ukraine as “a tragedy” last year — remains under UK and European Union sanctions as one of the ownership board of Russia’s giant Alfa Bank.
>He and his business partners were also sanctioned in the US last month and described as “prominent members of Russia’s financial elite”. Fridman, who is Ukrainian-born, is also facing seizure of his assets in Ukraine and has been accused by Kyiv of helping to finance the Russian war effort. Despite these allegations Russian opposition activists have called for sanctions against him to be lifted.
>Speaking about the case for the first time, Fridman said he remained fearful “someone in the police or NCA might have the desire to put this arrogant Russian oligarch in his place, especially if it aligns with the political discourse and public sentiment. It seems being a wealthy Russian, without exception, is seen as a crime.”
>He moved to Britain because he admired its adherence to the rule of law: “I have not committed a single offence and I have never violated the law, including tax law, in any country in the world. Are the taxpayers’ expenses justified for months of investigation? The most unpleasant thing was that I felt humiliated and unprotected in a country that rightfully takes pride in protecting the rights and freedoms of its citizens.”
1 comment
>#Botched mansion raid sinks case against Russian oligarch
>__Mikhail Fridman to be compensated for unlawful operation at his £65m home__
>Sean O’Neill
>Friday September 15 2023, 5.00pm BST, The Times
>A ten-month criminal investigation into London’s last Russian oligarch has collapsed after the National Crime Agency admitted its armed raid on his mansion was unlawful.
>Allegations of conspiring to circumvent sanctions, money laundering, fraud and perjury against Mikhail Fridman, 59, have been dropped. The NCA will have to pay damages for trespass, cover Fridman’s legal bills and return seized cash.
>The abandonment of the case is an embarrassment for the NCA’s Combating Kleptocracy Cell, which was set up in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to investigate sanctions evasion.
>More than 50 officials, including armed police, specialist search teams, Europol officers and a lawyer, took part in the raid on Fridman’s home — the £65 million Athlone House in Highgate, north London — last December.
>In court papers the NCA said the mansion was believed to be “the largest property ever searched by UK law enforcement in terms of warrant execution”.
>__‘Screaming, sirens and masked policemen’__
>The raiding party arrived at 7.26am with ladders and a battering ram and tried to scale the walls before security guards opened the electronic gates. Fridman and members of his staff were arrested and money, documents and computers were seized.
>Fridman, who started in business in the violent Moscow of the 1990s, told The Times he had been disturbed by “screaming, sirens wailing and dozens of armed, masked policemen storming into my house”.
>The oligarch said the NCA tactics were “unjustified and senseless”, adding: “When they put handcuffs on me and read the text of the warrant, I couldn’t believe my ears. Because of this absolutely straightforward matter, 51 masked policemen and a dozen vehicles conducted a whole special operation, blocking the entire neighbourhood.”
>Security guards testified that officers were shouting to open up but were standing in front of the sensors and preventing the gates from opening.
>Nerijus Kuskys, Fridman’s estate manager, told The Times in July: “I was treated like a common criminal and animal. We were all shocked and scared.”
>Graeme Biggar, director-general of the NCA, praised the raid and congratulated his officers on their “significant success investigating potential criminal activity by oligarchs”. He promised to “continue to use all the powers and tactics available to us to disrupt this threat”.
>__Wrong date scuppered raid__
>The case unravelled as lawyers for Fridman — who moved to the UK in 2014 and helped to set up the LetterOne group, which owns Holland & Barrett — pulled apart the NCA case.
>It emerged that a judge had entered the wrong date on the search warrant, writing 2021 instead of 2022, and the document was neither signed by an identifiable NCA officer nor specified the area to be searched.
>Material in support of the warrant appeared to have been cut and pasted from a dossier posted on the internet in 2008 to discredit Fridman and alleging he had “historical and ongoing involvement in organised crime”. It is an allegation he totally rejects.
>NCA officers claimed Fridman jumped out of a window and attempted to run away but his lawyer testified that CCTV showed him “walking calmly and slowly towards the officers with his arms raised”.
>Government lawyers concede the raid was “unlawful and the NCA is liable in damages for trespass to land and goods”, and Fridman is “not currently subject to any NCA criminal investigations of conspiracy to circumvent sanctions”.
>His passport has been returned and bail conditions requiring him to report to police twice a week have been dropped.
>However, Fridman — who described the invasion of Ukraine as “a tragedy” last year — remains under UK and European Union sanctions as one of the ownership board of Russia’s giant Alfa Bank.
>He and his business partners were also sanctioned in the US last month and described as “prominent members of Russia’s financial elite”. Fridman, who is Ukrainian-born, is also facing seizure of his assets in Ukraine and has been accused by Kyiv of helping to finance the Russian war effort. Despite these allegations Russian opposition activists have called for sanctions against him to be lifted.
>Speaking about the case for the first time, Fridman said he remained fearful “someone in the police or NCA might have the desire to put this arrogant Russian oligarch in his place, especially if it aligns with the political discourse and public sentiment. It seems being a wealthy Russian, without exception, is seen as a crime.”
>He moved to Britain because he admired its adherence to the rule of law: “I have not committed a single offence and I have never violated the law, including tax law, in any country in the world. Are the taxpayers’ expenses justified for months of investigation? The most unpleasant thing was that I felt humiliated and unprotected in a country that rightfully takes pride in protecting the rights and freedoms of its citizens.”