The statement comes just weeks after the JEP revealed exclusively that Chelsea FC owner and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich had been granted Jersey residency rights
Mr Lemasney says in a letter to the JEP this week that the figures prove that concerns reported by local media that ‘the Russians are coming’ have been ‘overdone’.
Meanwhile, Senator Philip Ozouf is planning to bring a man who describes himself as ‘Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy’ to Jersey so that he can advise the government on introducing sanctions against Russian human rights abusers.
Mr Lemasney’s letter confirms that four Russians have been accepted as high-value residents, who receive special tax breaks, under the ‘21E’ laws in the past five years, but that all of the applicants faced strict approval procedures.
‘The criteria and process for approvals are rigorous and transparent and we do not do deals,’ his letter says.
‘All applicants – Russian or otherwise – have the same right to privacy under Jersey law, and we will continue to uphold that.’
One of the 21E applicants understood to have been accepted last year was Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, who was in January named on a US Treasury Department list of 210 ‘oligarchs’ and senior politicians who have benefited from their relationship with the Putin regime.
The JEP asked the States communications unit to confirm whether any of Jersey’s other Russian high-value residents appeared on the list, but received no response, or further comment in relation to Mr Lemasney’s letter, at the time of writing.
Businessman Bill Browder, the author of the best-selling book Red Notice, last week called for Jersey to pass its own version of the Magnitsky Act – a set of sanctions applied by the US government against Russian nationals viewed as complicit in the suspicious death of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
Mr Magnitsky, an associate of Mr Browder’s, was allegedly beaten to death in a Russian prison after investigating a $230 million tax fraud case involving Russian government officials.
Mr Browder said last week that ‘massive’ amounts of wealth were owned by Russians tied to the Kremlin through trusts and companies based in offshore jurisdictions – including Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man – and that the Island could play its part on the international stage if it were to freeze the assets of alleged human rights abusers.
And, speaking exclusively to the JEP, Mr Browder added that he would be happy to come to the Island to testify before politicians to help Jersey introduce its own version of the Magnitsky Act.
His comments came after Senator Ozouf, who is liaising with Mr Browder with the intention of bringing him here, suggested in the States that the Island should consider introducing its own Magnitsky Act.
A growing number of nations across the world are taking action to punish Russia for its perceived role in the recent Salisbury poisoning, which left former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia critically ill in hospital. It is feared that the attack, which has been widely blamed on Moscow, will leave the pair permanently brain-damaged.
This week a number of countries, including Australia and the USA, expelled Russian diplomats.
The attack was last week condemned in the States by External Relations Minister Sir Philip Bailhache, who indicated that Jersey’s vetting procedures for high-value residents with ties to the Russian Government were now likely to become stricter.
