Sir Keir Starmer has issued a licence to transfer £2.5bn of frozen assets from Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea Football Club to Ukraine, warning the Russian former owner that the UK government is prepared to take him to court if he fails to release the funds.
“My message to
Abramovich is . . . the clock is ticking, honour the commitment you made and
pay up now,” Starmer said during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday. “If
you don’t, we’re prepared to go to court so every penny reaches those whose
lives have been torn apart by Putin’s illegal war.”
Since Abramovich sold Chelsea and other investments for
£2.5bn in 2022 to a consortium led by US investors Todd Boehly and Clearlake
Capital, the multibillion-pound proceeds have remained frozen in a UK bank
account.
Fordstam, the UK entity through which Abramovich owned
Chelsea, filed accounts for the year ended June 2022 last month at Companies
House, showing that the proceeds could ultimately be lower than the £2.5bn
headline figure cited by the UK government. The accounts showed that £150mn of
the £2.5bn paid by the current owners was deferred for five years following
completion to cover any losses associated with any proceedings relating to
events under the Abramovich ownership.
The accounts also showed that Fordstam owed around £1.5bn to
Camberley International Investments, a Jersey entity connected to Abramovich,
for loans made by what was classified as a related party.
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