Putin's link to Boris and Gove's Brexit 'coup' revealed:
Tycoon who netted millions from Russian gas deal funds think tank that
helped write the ministers letter demanding May take a tougher stance on
leaving the EU
- Think-tank financed by tycoon co-ordinated covert letter to Theresa May
- Christopher Chandler funded Legatum Institute after making a fortune in Russia
- He helped Vladimir Putin's associates take control of the energy giant Gazprom
- Chandler and his brother, Richard, became rich in post-Soviet 'wild capitalism'
- Institute economics head was 'third man' in Gove and Johnson's Brexit demands
A Russian link to Boris Johnson and Michael Gove’s successful plot to persuade Theresa May to take a tougher stance on Brexit has been uncovered by The Mail on Sunday.
This
newspaper has established that a secret letter sent by the Cabinet
Ministers to the Prime Minister was co-ordinated by a senior figure in a
free-market UK think-tank founded by a tycoon who made a fortune in
Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The financier who established that think-tank, the Legatum Institute, also helped President Vladimir Putin’s associates to take control of Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom.
The
institute’s economics director, Shanker Singham, was the ‘third man’ in
drawing up Johnson and Gove’s Brexit ultimatum, which this newspaper
disclosed last month.
The organisation,
which operates from a townhouse in London’s affluent Mayfair, was set up
using some of the fortune that secretive New Zealand-born tycoon
Christopher Chandler made with brother Richard from a string of
investments, some of which were made during the ‘wild capitalism’ of the
post-Soviet economy.
Tonight one
leading MP called for an investigation by Parliament’s intelligence and
security committee into the Legatum Institute and its influence on the
Government.
But an Institute spokesman
strongly defended the charity’s influence in the Brexit letter, and
denied that Mr Chandler had played any role.
It
comes amid a separate political row over claims that the Kremlin
secretly interfered in both Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.
This newspaper has traced thousands of pro-Brexit social media posts to a
‘troll factory’ based in St Petersburg.
Mr
Singham and Mr Gove were both at a behind-closed-doors Commons seminar
on Brexit on Friday, which was also attended by No 10 and officials from
the US Embassy. All guests were sworn to secrecy.
The Mail on Sunday photographed Mr Singham as he slipped out of the meeting on Friday afternoon.
Asked
about his links with the Legatum Institute, Mr Gove told this newspaper
he had met one of the Chandler brothers on one occasion. But he
declined to comment on Friday’s meeting with Mr Singham, or Mr Singham’s
role in the letter, saying: ‘The blessed sponge of amnesia wipes the
memory slate clean.’
Johnson and Gove’s
Legatum-backed letter, revealed by The Mail on Sunday a fortnight ago,
made three key demands to Mrs May: to force Chancellor Philip Hammond to
do more to plan for a ‘hard Brexit’; to use our withdrawal from the EU
to scrap swathes of rules and regulations; and to appoint a new ‘Brexit
Tsar’ to head up a task force within Whitehall.
All
three demands seem to have been met. Mr Hammond used the Budget to
announce an extra £3 billion to prepare for a ‘no deal’ on Brexit talks.
Mr Gove has reportedly boasted that he has won Mrs May’s backing to use
our EU withdrawal to break free of all Brussels rules.
And
our investigation suggests that Mr Singham is effectively becoming that
Tsar: over the past year, he has held at least seven secret meetings
with Ministers and officials at DexEU – the Department for Exiting the
EU – including a summer summit at Chevening, the Kent home shared by
Johnson, Brexit Secretary David Davis and International Trade Secretary
Liam Fox. Mr Singham, who has dual UK and US citizenship, has worked on
trade deals involving Russia in the past.
He
previously spent 18 years working for US law firm Squire Sanders, which
was subsequently dragged into the row over Donald Trump’s links to
Russia. The company formed an alliance with one of the President’s
former lawyers, Michael Cohen, who had been embroiled in controversy for
approaching Putin’s spokesman for help on a property deal.
The tycoon bought La Fleur Du Cap, the old mansion on the French Riviera formerly owned by David Niven
Asked
if Mr Singham had helped write the letter to Mrs May, Mr Gove declined
to answer four times before claiming he had forgotten. The Environment
Secretary confirmed he had met Mr Singham, an Oxford University
contemporary.
He also said he had met
Monaco-based Christopher Chandler, who fiercely guards his privacy, at
an event backed by the Legatum Institute and hosted by former Tory
Cabinet Minister Lord Cranborne.
The
Chandlers extended their flourishing business empire into Russia in the
1990s, when state businesses were being privatised, and lucky
entrepreneurs were able to make a killing. Through their company,
Sovereign Global, they built a substantial holding in Gazprom, the
government-controlled energy giant.
Shortly
after Putin became Russian President for the first time in 2000, the
Chandlers, angered by the corruption they had witnessed in Gazprom, were
credited with helping to trigger a boardroom coup which subsequently
led to Alexey Miller being installed as head of the company. The
Chandlers say they helped to bring ‘transparency and accountability’ to
the company. Miller was a close ally and confidant of Putin’s from their
time working together in St Petersburg.
Putin
used the vast profits from Gazprom, the world’s largest energy company,
to consolidate his grip on power. In 2005 another Putin ally, Dmitry
Medvedev, the current Prime Minister, became chairman of Gazprom.
The
brothers split their fortunes in 2006, with Christopher using his share
to help form the Legatum Group, which operates from Legatum Plaza in
Dubai. The Legatum Group then spawned the Legatum Institute, which the
group says is a completely independent charity with its own trustees.
The Legatum Institute has played a key role in pushing Mrs May’s Government closer to a ‘hard Brexit’ deal.
It
referred questions to the Legatum Group, which last night confirmed
that Mr Singham is advising the Government because of his ‘unparalleled
expertise in economics and trade as a public service.’
The
spokesman said Mr Chandler was ‘not aware’ of the Johnson/Gove letter.
He added that Mr Chandler had made his money in many endeavours, not
just Russia, was ‘not involved in running the Legatum Institute’ and had
no ‘role in appointing Mr Singham’.
According
to the institute’s accounts, it received more than £4.4 million in
funding last year – of which £3.9 million came from the Legatum
Foundation, the ‘development wing’ of the Legatum Group.
The Johnson/Gove letter is not the only thing linking the organisation to the Government:
lIt
paid Brexit Secretary David Davis £5,000 to make a speech at its London
office and flew him to Los Angeles for another function;
lLegatum Institute trade expert Crawford Falconer was appointed Liam Fox’s chief trade negotiator two months ago;
lAnd
Legatum Institute ‘senior fellow’ Matthew Elliott was chief executive
of Gove and Johnson’s ‘Vote Leave’ referendum campaign.
Mr
Elliott was previously caught up in a Russian controversy in 2012, when
he was targeted by a man the Home Office now believes was a Russian
spy.
Russian diplomat Sergey Nalobin
cultivated links with Elliott and helped to found Conservative Friends
of Russia, which was later revealed to have links to Russian
intelligence.
But in August 2015,
Nalobin had his permission to stay in Britain suddenly revoked after the
inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko by polonium poisoning in
London concluded that he was probably murdered on the personal orders
of Putin.
The Chancellor’s £3 billion
Budget boost, and claims that Mrs May now supports Mr Gove’s demand to
ditch EU standards will fuel claims the Government is following the
Legatum Institute’s Brexit blueprint.
Furthermore,
the charity’s involvement in the secret Johnson-Gove letter and
Friday’s behind-closed-doors Commons summit will lead to more questions
about the alleged cloak-and-dagger aspects of the organisation’s
influence.
One senior Government source claimed
the institute had ‘staged a soft coup via Johnson and Gove’ and that
civil servants who have to obey strict anti-corruption rules had
effectively been bypassed.
Mr Johnson
is to visit Russia in December for talks with Vladimir Putin in his role
as Foreign Secretary. Brexit is expected to be on the agenda.
Labour
MP Liam Byrne, a former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: ‘In the
light of The Mail on Sunday’s revelations of the close links between the
Legatum Institute and the Johnson-Gove hard Brexit putsch, it is now
critical that this think-tank’s relationship with the Government is
thoroughly investigated. I urge Parliament’s intelligence and security
committee to launch a wide inquiry into Russian interference and settle
the serious and lingering questions’.
