Yevgeny Prigozhin
Britain will investigate how sanctioned persons were allowed to use the country’s legal services after a lawsuit was filed against Bellingcats Eliot Higgins.
It came after accusations that the British government was aiding the chairman of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhinsued the founder of Bellingcat.
The UK Treasury today granted a license allowing sanctioned persons to circumvent restrictions on hiring British lawyers and paying their fees for actions brought before UK courts.
It was this loophole that allegedly allowed bosses of Wagner, who was sanctioned by Britain in 2020, to launch a defamation case against Eliot Higginsfounder of the Bellingcat excavation site.
According to the website OpenDemocracy
granting British authority licenses so British law firms can work for Prigozhin.
They also allegedly allowed lawyers to fly to Russia to meet Prigozhin’s legal representatives there, as well as let him pay by bank transfer to a British account, the website says.
The UK government has yet to comment on the case, but the foreign minister is answering questions in parliament James Cartlidge on Thursday it will be investigated how this license was awarded.
The libel case against the Bellingcat founder was dropped last year when Russia invaded Ukraine. However, Wagner’s boss was on the sanction list before the invasion.
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