Now in the aftermath of the atrocious Salisbury attack,
all attention is now focusing on how we stand up to Russia.
This is one of the epicentres, London, of dirty money,
of money laundering,
lots of oligarchs have set down roots here.
I want to go on this bus tour here
of Russian linked property across London
and ask: 'how big a problem is this
'and can we take them on?'
We believe that the government should stop
diplomatic gesticulation and really hit Krelim kleptocracy
where it hurts: in it's wallet.
Of course Russia matters but we have to be a country
that has our eyes wide open.
Unfortunately, London has become the home
of dodgy money and we need to change that.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
Putin. Why don't we say Putin not Poot...
I'd say Pootin but I'm northern.
Eaton Square, which is often known as Red Square.
In the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union,
many of the old Communist bureaucrats basically looted
Russian assets. Is that basically what happened?
Yeah, and the KGB.
But by the noughties, some of those traditional oligarchs
were squeezed out or put in jail
and the others kind of coalesced around Vlaimir Putin.
Essentially what you have to understand
about this regime is that it's kind of hypercapitalist
but it's also feudal.
You enjoy your fortune
because Vladimir Putin allows you to.
So it's a kind of Darwinian struggle within the elites.
People, suddenly, for no reason will fall into the mincer.
So I was told at the beginning by someone
that you're actually the leader
of the Russian opposition in exile.
I'm a humble person, the leader would be a bit
of an exaggeration.
What drove you into exile?
In the beginning of 2014,
the political atmosphere in Russia deteriorated.
Russia annexed Crimea, my ally Alexei Navalny
was put under house arrest,
there was a raid on my apartment,
I felt it was not safe.
Do you ever worry about your own security and safety
as an opponent of Putin's regime?
I feel safer in London
than I would be on the streets of Moscow.
But at the same time I have no doubts
that Russian security services, if given an order,
they can carry out assassinations in any part of the world.
Unfortunately, Transparency International, we've been
working on the issue of property particularly
for a few years,
and we've found £4.4 billion worth of UK property,
which is owned with suspicious wealth.
Lots of Russian oligarchs, what they do is they use
these offshore trusts to buy up properties.
What are they doing?
Owen, you look quite nice and you even sound quite nice
but let's say you're a crook.
Exposed!
You're a crook and you want to buy
a townhouse in Kensington for £40m, – Sure.
which you've stolen
or from your literary earnings or whatever ...
You'd dial your lawyer and your lawyer calls
a kind of company formation agent in Panama
or the BVI (British Virgin Islands).
You set up a company and you use this vehicle
to buy the property. No one knows its yours.
We, by which I mean Britain, facilitates this.
We make it very easy for any kleptocrat who's stolen
even less than the money you've stolen
to buy somewhere.
The UK system is set up so that corrupt individuals
can very easily bring their money in here.
We're essentially offering them impunity.
We can't just point at corruption overseas
and say that's a problem elsewhere
because the UK is complicit.
Why do so many Russian oligarchs come to London?
Is it, I don't know, the scenery?
Ha ha ha. And the climate? – And the climate!
London is a capital of finance and business so people ...
There is a service industry of bankers,
property estate agents, lawyers who can service you
and London has already got a big,
thriving Russian community.
So people have, you know, a lot of their friends
and social contacts here.
What's not to like?
We're getting off, we're getting off, we're getting off.
So this is the weirdest school trip I've ever been on.
Thank you.
One of the suggestions that's been made, for example,
by Labour is to have and oligarch levy.
I mean, could that be something which could be effective.
It could be but, ideally, what you want is transparency.
Transparency brings accountability.
If we were too find out who owns all these lavish palaces,
all that would create a wave of revelations
about what sort of people and what sort of kleptocrats
we're dealing with.
Will that really damage the Russian regime?
100 percent.
You have to understand that Russia
is an absolute kleptocracy.
The corrupt political elite plunders the country,
robs blind its own citizens, its fellow taxpayers,
and the money doesn't stay in Russia, it comes here,
and that's the link, that's the modus operandi
of a country, of a regime.
Cut that link and that's what you get.
You're going to hurt that corrupt, criminal regime.