Outside In | Global hunt for Russian billionaires’ superyachts won’t end Ukraine war

While the goal of enforcing sanctions is to stop the war and punish an autocrat, confiscating billionaires’ expensive baubles will not stop the bloodshed

At the very least, this episode will serve as evidence of how difficult it will be to reclaim ill-gotten wealth and stop tax avoidance once the war ends

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The superyacht Solaris, linked to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, travels through Porto Montenegro in Tivat, Montenegro, on March 12. Sanctions might have cost Abramovich his London mansion, two private jets and Chelsea Football Club, but he is more likely to be concerned about his net worth shrinking by US$7.6 billion since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:30am, 11 Jun 2022Updated: 4:20am, 11 Jun 2022

There is a sense of “catch me if you can” in the global hunt to seize the superyachts belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs. Apart from the difficulty of trying to find these billionaire trophies as they duck and weave between havens beyond the reach of sanctions enforcers, there is the challenge of proving who owns what and the costliness of holding them once they are seized.

Consider the 106-metre yacht Amadea, worth more than US$300 million and linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. After the yacht spent more than a month in Fiji’s Lautoka port, as shell company owners challenged their links with Kerimov in court, Fiji’s Chief Justice Kamal Kumar has handed the vessel over to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Amadea costs more than US$2 million a month to operate, and Fiji has had to cover those bills while the craft was in its hands. Now that the FBI has seized it, the US government has to pick up that tab as well as the cost of fuel needed to get it back to the United States.

I know the goal of enforcing sanctions is to stop a war and punish an autocrat rather than address global inequality, tax avoidance or corruption. But apart from the fascination many people have with the extravagant excess of billionaires, I am not convinced the confiscations will take us closer to ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

If the ultimate aim were to tackle kleptocracy, tax avoidance and corruptly gained wealth, why stop with Russian billionaires? According to Forbes, there are only 87 of them out of a global list of 2,668.

Many billionaires – not just Russian ones – have gone to great lengths to disguise their wealth and avoid tax. Is this all a warning about the challenges ahead if we ever get serious about clawing back ill-gotten wealth worldwide and cracking down on global tax avoidance?

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Outside In | Global hunt for Russian billionaires’ superyachts won’t end Ukraine war

Outside In | Global hunt for Russian billionaires’ superyachts won’t end Ukraine war