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A30 world news
Diamars 8 maart 2022

Former Pakistani President Rafiq Tarar dies at 92

(AP) — Rafiq Tarar, a for- the country’s military chief, Tarar to continue working as
mer Pakistani judge who Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa. President until 2001 when he
served as the country’s forced Tarar to resign and re-
President from 1997 to Tarar was elected the coun- placed him.
2001, died on Monday in try’s president after the party
the eastern city of Lahore of former Prime Minister Musharraf is currently liv-
after a prolonged illness at Nawaz Sharif backed him in ing in self-imposed exiled in
the age of 92. the presidential election in Dubai after being forced to
1997. Tarar was a close friend resign in 2008 when politi-
Tarar’s grandson, Azam Tarar, of Sharif, who won the par- cians backing him lost par-
announced on Twitter that liamentary elections in 1997. liamentary elections. Sharif,
his grandfather had died. who was ordered out in 2017
Sharif was ousted from by a court over charges of
Pakistan’s President Arif Ali, power by a former military corruption, has been living in
Prime Minister Imran Khan dictator Pervez Musharraf exile in London.
and prominent politicians ex- in 1999 in a bloodless coup.
pressed their grief, along with However, Musharraf allowed

Stung by criticism, UK’s Johnson speeds up Russia sanctions

(AP) — U.K. lawmakers are set true owners, an attempt to crack to overrule concerns about Lebedev.
to pass a bill on Monday aimed at down on money-laundering and the “There are a lot of Russians with very
toughening sanctions on Russia use of shadowy shell companies to close links to Putin who are well in- Oliver Bullough, an expert on mon-
and rooting out ill-gotten money buy businesses and properties. tegrated into the U.K. business and ey-laundering whose new book “But-
from the British economy. social scene, and accepted because of ler to the World” explores Britain’s
Initially, the legislation gave busi- their wealth,” the report said. relationship to global wealth, said the
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said nesses 18 months to comply. That has new legislation contained multiple
the Economic Crime Bill will let been shortened to six months — but Transparency campaigners say the loopholes and would not choke off
British authorities ”pursue (Russian critics say it should be even shorter. governing Conservatives have re- dirty money.
President Vladimir) Putin’s allies in Labour Party business spokesman ceived 2 million pounds ($2.7 mil-
the U.K. with the full backing of the Jonathan Reynolds said the grace pe- lion) in donations from people linked He said that for decades Britain had
law, beyond doubt or legal challenge.” riod amounted to a “get out of Lon- to Russia since Johnson became prioritized “the fees that its financial
don free card” for oligarchs. prime minister in 2019. The party services sector could earn from oli-
Johnson, who met Canadian Prime says all its donors are registered U.K. garchs over checking the origin of the
Minister Justin Trudeau and Dutch Opposition lawmakers are urging the electors, as the law demands. money.”
leader Mark Rutte on Monday to dis- government to immediately seize oli-
cuss toughening the West’s response garchs’ properties in Britain, emulat- Opposition politicians are demand- “It is not surprising that the capacity
to the invasion, said the new law ing Italy, which has seized 143 million ing to know why Johnson gave a to do anything about checking it now
would “whip aside the veil of ano- euros ($156 million) in luxury yachts noble title and a seat in Parliament’s should be so degraded,” Bullough
nymity” used by oligarchs to obscure and villas from rich Russians. House of Lords to Evgeny Lebedev, said. “It’s as if I was asked to suddenly
ownership of properties. the Russia-born owner of two British go out and run a 200-meter sprint
The government says the new law newspapers. His oligarch father Alex- against some top sprinters having
But critics say the British government will also make it easier to slap sanc- ander Lebedev is a former KGB agent, spent the previous 30 years slugging
is trying — belatedly — to fix prob- tions on people and firms who have and the Sunday Times newspaper re- around eating crisps on the sofa.
lems of its own making. Opposition already been sanctioned by allies in- ported that British intelligence agen-
politicians and anti-corruption cam- cluding the U.S., Canada and the cies had expressed concerns about the “We lack the state capacity to track
paigners say Johnson’s Conservatives EU. Critics say the current rules in- 2020 appointment. oligarchs’ money, we lack the people,
have allowed ill-gotten money to volve too much legal red tape that can the experts in government, who are
slosh into U.K. properties, banks and be used to forestall sanctions. Johnson’s office said all peerages are able to know how to craft useful sanc-
businesses for years, turning London vetted by an appointments commis- tions,” he added. “All of those things
into a “laundromat” for dirty cash. Britain’s Conservatives, in power sion, and Johnson denied intervening are, frankly, an embarrassment.”
since 2010, pride themselves on mak-
Johnson has repeatedly claimed that ing the U.K. an attractive place for
Britain is leading international efforts the world’s wealthy to live and invest.
to punish Putin over the invasion of Many of the ultra-rich own London
Ukraine. The U.K. has slapped sanc- mansions, send their children to Eng-
tions on a host of Russian banks and lish private schools and employ fleets
businesses, measures the government of PR consultants and lawyers to tend
says have curtailed more than 250 their reputations — helped by Brit-
billion pounds’ ($330 million) worth ain’s claimant-friendly libel laws.
of Russian economic activity. So
far, though, it has sanctioned only a The anti-corruption group Trans-
handful of Kremlin-linked individu- parency International says Russians
als with assets in Britain, fewer than linked to the Kremlin or accused of
either the European Union or the corruption own 1.5 billion pounds’
U.S. ($2 billion) worth of London prop-
erty.
That has drawn heavy criticism,
which appears to be having an ef- In a damning 2020 report whose re-
fect. Two weeks ago, Johnson said lease was delayed for months by the
the Economic Crime Bill would be government, Parliament’s Intelli-
passed in the fall. On the weekend, gence and Security Committee said
he announced it would be rushed that since the 1990s Britain has “wel-
through Parliament on Monday. comed Russian money, and few ques-
tions — if any — were asked about
The bill will require overseas firms the provenance of this considerable
with assets in Britain to reveal their wealth.”