Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the Government permits the 35 people named under the US Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 to (a) hold assets in the UK and (b) be issued with UK visas.

Richard Harrington

As we have previously made clear, the Magnitsky case remains of serious concern to the UK Government.

The UK Government has powers in relation to assets that are very similar to those available to the United States under the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012. These powers are under regular review and the Government will consider further legislation if and when the evidence suggests it is necessary.

Wherever we have evidence that individuals were involved in the Magnitsky case, that evidence is taken very carefully into account in considering visa applications.

For reasons of data protection the Government does not routinely comment on individuals’ asset holdings or immigration cases.