2 months ago
12
The UK government is making plans for a possible court case against Roman Abramovich.
The news came after the former Chelsea owner missed a deadline to release £2.5bn he raised from the sale of the club.
In December Keir Starmer announced Treasury was would issue a licence for the transfer of frozen funds from the sale to a foundation to be used to provide aid in Ukraine.
Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.
The UK government gave the Russian businessman 90 days to do so or risk being taken to court by the UK government. Officials have written Mr Abramovich's lawyers warning them they are now taking steps to ready a potential court case against the billionaire.
A government spokesperson said: "We gave Roman Abramovich his last chance to do the right thing. Once again, he has failed to make the donation he committed to.
"We will now take further steps to ensure that the promise he made at the time of the Chelsea sale is kept."
Roman Abramovich rose to fame after he bought Chelsea Football Club in 2003 and pumping billions of pounds into the club, which went on to win multiple Premier League titles as well as the Champions League.
But the former Putin ally was sanctioned by Boris Johnson's government in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine over Mr Abramovich's links to the Russian dictator.
As part of the measures, he was forced to sell his stake in Chelsea, announcing at the time that the frozen proceeds of the sale would be put to use "for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine", including "providing critical funds towards the urgent and immediate needs of victims, as well as supporting the long-term work of recovery".
However the £2.5bn from the sale has remained frozen ever since, kept in an inaccessible account and not available to help support Ukraine.
English (US) · 
French (CA) · 
French (FR) ·