Basit Mahmood
Shadow Attorney General Lord Wolfson KC, who was appointed to the role by Kemi Badenoch in November, is ‘acting for the Russian arm of a logistics giant closely involved in one of Vladimir Putin’s pet projects’, according to The Lawyer.
The Tory party has long been criticised for its Kremlin links, which have included the party accepting donations from Russia-linked donors, even as Putin launched his war against Ukraine.
Now it’s emerged that Shadow Attorney General Lord Wolfson KC, who was appointed to the role by Kemi Badenoch in November, is ‘acting for the Russian arm of a logistics giant closely involved in one of Vladimir Putin’s pet projects’, according to The Lawyer.
The magazine reports: “One Essex Court’s Lord Wolfson KC, who was appointed shadow Attorney General by the new Tory Party leader in November, is instructed to defend DP World Russia FZCO in the $14bn Ziyavudin Magomedov litigation before London’s Commercial Court. The case was thrown out by Mr Justice Bright this month, largely for jurisdictional reasons, but is being appealed by Magomedov and his solicitors, Seladore Legal.”
DP World Russia is a subsidiary of DP World, the international port and shipping company owned by the Dubai royal family. The Guardian has previously highlighted how DP World is a partner in Vladimir Putin’s northern sea route project, an Arctic shortcut between Europe and Asia.
The paper reported: “DP World has signed agreements with the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom since the invasion of Ukraine to help develop the route, but said this weekend it was focused on maintaining the flow of global trade and did not have “active operations” in Russia.”
Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention has listed DP World as an international sponsor of war because of its “strengthened cooperation” with Russia.
Responding to criticism of his work for DP World Russia, Lord Wolfson said: “I do not consider there is any conflict between my practice as a barrister and my role as shadow AG (and practising barristers have occupied the shadow AG role in the past) either generally or in relation to this matter.
“As I have said before, and in Parliament: ‘Don’t judge a surgeon by their patients, a journalist by their interviewees—or a lawyer by their clients.’ The rule of law – of which that principle is part – is essential to our democracy. Part of my role is to uphold the rule of law, and I will try my best to meet that responsibility.”