Abramovich foundation trustee has links to Starmer advisor Powell
A new charitable foundation at the heart of Roman Abramovich’s dispute with the UK government over the £2.35bn in funds from the sale of Chelsea has a named trustee with links to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Martin Griffiths, a UK diplomat and former coordinator for the United Nations, co-founded a ‘peacemaking’ organisation with Starmer’s top national security advisor Jonathan Powell.
The pair founded Inter-Mediate in 2011 with the organisation focusing “on the most difficult, complex and dangerous conflicts where other organisations are unable to operate”.
Griffiths has been named a trustee of The Foundation for the Victims of Conflict alongside Caryl Stern – once the director of the Walton Family Foundation, set up by the founders of US giant Walmart – and anti-female genital mutilation campaigner Nimco Ali.
The trio will act as trustees in an organisation overseen by former Unicef executive Mike Penrose.
Abramovich charitable move
The move to register the foundation is aimed at resolving a conflict between billionaire oligarch Abramovich and the UK Government centered on where the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea, currently sat in a frozen Fordstam Ltd bank account, head.
The UK government has insisted it will take legal steps against Abramovich to ensure the funds from the sale go to the Ukrainian victims of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the Eastern European country.
Abramovich, on the other hand, has said he wishes the proceeds to go to “all victims” of the war, suggesting Russians could benefit from his multi-billion pound sale of the Stamford Bridge club to BlueCo, fronted by US investor Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
State of play
A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We have received an application to register the Foundation for the Victims of Conflict to receive funds from the sale of Chelsea FC and will be assessing this against the legal framework for charitable status to determine if it meets the legal tests to be a charity.
“Our role as regulator is to ensure that organisations entered onto the Register of Charities meet the legal definition of a charity and that trustees comply with their legal duties.”
The Foundation for the Victims of Conflict looks likely to focus on victims who may not be Ukrainian, in a move that will irk the government. And it comes as Abramovich faces obstacles in Jersey related to more than $7bn of assets linked to the Russian being seized by the Royal Court four years ago.
“We have been clear from the start that the full proceeds of the sale of Chelsea FC must be used for humanitarian causes in Ukraine,” a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office told The Athletic last week.
“Our absolute priority remains ensuring the funds reach the most vulnerable in Ukraine who have endured over four years of relentless suffering.”