Professional indulgences: British service providers, postcommunist elites, and the enabling of kleptocracy
How significant are UK-based professionals in facilitating the insertion of postcommunist elites and their kleptocratic wealth into Britain? Based on the author’s forthcoming book, the talk will address this question in a study of the broad range of financial, legal, and related services provided in the UK with respect to suspicious wealth from Central Asia and the Caucasus. It shows how professional enablers indulge their postcommunist elite clients by hiding, protecting, and legitimising wealth which originates in kleptocratic environments – indulgences which range from the listing of oligarchs’ companies on the London Stock Exchange to the silencing of critics via libel action. Enriched with case studies from several of these indulgences by UK professionals on behalf of Azeri, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek elites, the book demonstrates how the enabler effect is far stronger than competing explanations in political economy and international relations.
Date: 5 February 2024, 17:00 (Monday, 4th week, Hilary 2024)
Venue: St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details: Nissan Lecture Theatre
Speaker: Professor John Heathershaw (University of Exeter)
Organising department: Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre
Organisers: Dr Michael Rochlitz (St Antony's College), Dr Marnie Howlett (DPIR, University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: richard.ramage@sant.ox.ac.uk
Part of: RESC Monday Seminar, Hilary Term 2024
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Richard Ramage