A politician had his children’s £40,000 UK private school fees paid for him by his brother-in-law in a breach of sanctions against Russians living in the UK, a court has heard.
Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, 48, accepted the cash from Alexei Owsjanikow, 46, and his wife paid him another £76,000, it is claimed.
He used £54,500 of that money to buy a new Mercedes Benz GLC 300.
Ovsiannikov was an ‘important political figure’ in Russia and was the acting governor of Sevastapol in occupied Crimea between 2017 and 2018 after being appointed to the role by Vladimir Putin in 2016.
On February 6 2023 he set up an illegal Halifax bank account using an online form, Southwark crown court heard.
Between February 8 and February 24, Ovsiannikov received £76,000 in illicit payments into the account from his wife, prosecutors say.
Three individual payments of £25,000 were made so he could buy the car, it is claimed.
Regulations were also broken a year later when his brother in law made payments of £23,913 and £17,114.24 to cover private school fees for Ovsiannikov’s children.
Ekaterina Ovsiannikova (left) and Alexei Owsjanikow, 46, (right) are accused of working to circumvent sanctions on a designated person
Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, 48, received £76,000 in illicit payments into a bank account account from his wife, prosecutors say, as well as further money for school fees
The money was sent to the exclusive Royal Russell School in Surrey, which has prevoiusly been attended by actors Martin Clunes and Naoko Mori and Conservative MP Mims Davies.
Wearing a navy-blue blazer jacket, Ovsiannikov appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday for the first day of the trial.
He denies seven counts of circumventing, enabling or facilitating the contravention of financial prohibitions, possession of criminal property and using criminal property.
His wife Ekaterina Owsjanikow, 46, who was aided in court with an interpreter, denies four counts of circumventing, enabling or facilitating the contravention of financial prohibitions, possession of criminal property and using criminal property.
Alexei Owsjanikow denies five counts of circumventing, enabling or facilitating the contravention of financial prohibitions, possession of criminal property and using criminal property.
Prosecutor Paul Jarvis told jurors: ‘The Russian Regulations contain a number of prohibitions that are intended to restrict the access that designated persons have to financial resources and to prevent people lending financial help to designated persons.
‘A breach of those prohibitions is a criminal offence.
‘The prosecution say that from the beginning of February 2023, the defendants, at various times in various ways, contravened regulation 19 by engaging in activity for the purpose of helping Dmitrii in a way that was prohibited under the Russian Regulations.
Ovsiannikov (right) was an ‘important political figure’ in Russia and was the acting governor of Sevastapol in occupied Crimea between 2017 and 2018 after being appointed to the role by Vladimir Putin (left)
Wearing a navy-blue blazer jacket, Ovsiannikov appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday for the first day of the trial
Some of the money was sent to the exclusive Royal Russell School (pictured) in Surrey, which has prevoiusly been attended by actors Martin Clunes and Naoko Mori and Conservative MP Mims Davies
‘At the end of this trial the issue for you, then, will be what these defendants knew and understood about Dmitrii’s status as a designated person in the UK.’
The prosecutor said that the two brothers were born in Russia to a Russian mother and a father born in Bradford in 1950.
Jurors heard that Ovsiannikov married Ms Owsjanikow in Russia and they share four children – two of whom studied at British universities.
Mr Jarvis explained that Mr Ovsiannikov was a high-ranking former Russian politician and former Putin-appointed governor of Sevastapol in occupied Crimea.
He said he later worked as the Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade in the Russian Federation.
The prosecutor told the court: ‘The important thing for you to note from this is that from 21 November 2017 to the present day, Dmitrii has been a designated person in the UK.’
He added that in February 2023, ‘husband and wife (were) working together to circumvent restrictions Dmitrii was under’ when she made three payments of £25,000 into his UK bank account.
Mr Ovsiannikov put down a £500 deposit down for a Mercedes Benz using money from the account, Mr Jarvis added.
‘The prosecution say Dmitrii knew or suspected that those funds were transferred to him in breach of the UK sanctions regime.’
Another alleged breach involved his brother completing the purchase of the Mercedes after Mr Ovsiannikov ran into difficulties, he told the jury.
Mr Owsjanikow also left his brother a debit card for him to ‘make purchases from Ginger Pig and wine shop Bottle Apostle, being shops in and around Clapham and Balham.’
The final counts concerned two ‘significant’ payments made to a private school in Surrey by Mr Owsjanikow on behalf of his brother and sister-in-law, the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor said said any claims of ignorance on behalf of the three-defendants as to the sanctions were ‘simply unbelievable.’
The EU made Ovsiannikov a designated person under its sanctions legislation on November 21 2017, meaning he was also a designated person in the UK as the country was still in the EU.
He resigned from his role in Crimea in July 2019 before taking a role in Russian government.
He applied for a UK passport in August 2022.
All three defendants deny all the charges against them. The trial continues.
