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Raid on sanctioned Russian oligarch’s Surrey mansion nets £30,000 in cash

Russian President Vladimir Putin applauds then Alfa-Bank head Petr Aven after awarding him with the Order of Merit to the Fatherland during a ceremony at the Kremlin in 2005 - AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin applauds then Alfa-Bank head Petr Aven after awarding him with the Order of Merit to the Fatherland during a ceremony at the Kremlin in 2005 - AFP

British authorities have raided the mansion of a Russian oligarch and seized £30,000 in cash in what is thought to be the country’s first investigation into alleged sanctions violations.

Petr Aven, a billionaire and former head of Russia’s largest private bank, has been living under sanctions since March, as part of the Government response to the invasion of Ukraine.

He has remained in the UK and now requires licences from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation to spend money, although he has not yet received one.

Several dozen officers visited Mr Aven’s grand property in Surrey recently and carried out a search, sources with knowledge of the operation told The Telegraph.

It is understood that around £30,000 in cash was seized by officials from the National Crime Agency (NCA), who have arranged to interview Mr Aven in several months’ time about alleged financial transactions to the UK following the invasion.

British authorities are understood to be examining money sent to a company responsible for managing Mr Aven’s mansion, which was then used for its upkeep.

There is no suggestion Mr Aven was in possession of the cash at the time and no individual has been formally accused of any wrongdoing.

Petr Aven was said to be worth around £4 billion when the Government sanctioned him in March - Getty Images
Petr Aven was said to be worth around £4 billion when the Government sanctioned him in March - Getty Images

Mr Aven declined to comment.

The UK has sanctioned more than 1,000 people and 100 companies since Russia’s invasion began.

Mr Aven, a former president of Alfa-Bank and co-founder of LetterOne, was said to be worth around £4 billion when the Government sanctioned him, along with his business partner Mikhail Fridman in March. He has since left his roles with both organisations.

He is described on the UK’s sanction list as a “pro-Kremlin oligarch” and associate of Vladimir Putin, who, the Government alleges, was “involved in supporting the government of Russia as a director of Alfa-Bank”.

Mr Aven was one of the key so-called oligarchs during the 1990s under then President Boris Yeltsin, backing his re-election bid in 1996. When the EU sanctioned Mr Aven, it called him one of about 50 wealthy Russian businessmen who regularly meet with Putin in the Kremlin, quoting from the Mueller Report into Russian meddling in the 2016 US elections.

Along with Mr Fridman and other partners, Mr Aven made his money from selling their stake in TNK-BP to state-controlled Rosneft in 2013. The deal came less than a year before Putin annexed Crimea, triggering a wave of initial sanctions against Russia.

The NCA has been approached for comment.