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Billionaire Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was denied Swiss residency over fears that he was a “security risk” – but was nonetheless given the green light to move to Jersey.
Roman Abramovich was due to move to the island, after being offered residency under the high-value residency scheme run by Locate Jersey officials, who have since defended their background checks as “rigorous.”
However, that move was held up after the Chelsea FC owner’s UK visa renewal – something vital for the move – hit delays amid heightened scrutiny of wealthy Russians in the wake of the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury earlier this year.
But now it’s emerged that, despite having passed Jersey’s security checks, the 51-year-old failed to pass those of Switzerland.
A leaked Swiss police report, which was based on an investigation into a Russian oil-trading business linked with Mr Abramovich in the 1990s, said that he was suspected of money laundering and had “alleged contacts with criminal organisations.”
“We have several pieces of police information showing that Roman Abramovich entertains contacts with Russian criminal organisations. We consider his presence in Switzerland to be a threat to public safety and a risk for Switzerland’s reputation,” it read.
Locate Jersey officials declined to comment when questioned by Express over why Mr Abramovich had been offered Jersey residency, simply stating: “We don’t comment on any individuals who may have applied for high value residency.”
However, they maintained: “We have rigorous processes in place for vetting every application to relocate to Jersey under our high-value residency regime.”
The process involves submitting a dossier to the Director of High Value Residency, which includes:
Once reviewed by the JFSC and States of Jersey Police, and the Comptroller of Taxes is satisfied that the client can meet the minimum income requirements, the final say rests with the Assistant Chief Minister in charge of population issues, which was then Senator Paul Routier.
They added that they followed a strict ‘Know Your Client’ (KYC) process, which, if there were concerns about any individuals, would involve reporting to the Attorney General or the Jersey Financial Services Commission.
Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) or high-profile persons deemed as “likely to attract a lot of media attention” undergo a separate risk assessment.
A spokesperson explained: “This will take two forms. The first is an officer led completion of an internal Risk Assessment. The results of this will be shared with the Chief Ministers Department and a decision made as to proceed or not. If the decision is made to proceed an Enhanced Due Diligence report will be requested for an independent source, the result of which will be submitted to the Chief Minister for political consideration.
“In parallel to this, every enquiry (with copy of the passport) is sent to the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) and the States of Jersey Police (SoJP) for their comments and if the client fails any of these tests the process would stop there. Over the last five years approximately 90% of our clients have engaged a professional adviser to make the submission for residency. These companies will of course have their own on-boarding process for new clients.”
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