Kremlin critic Browder urges forced oligarch whistleblowers

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Kremlin critic Bill Browder wants governments to step up efforts to get to the riches squirreled away by Russian oligarchs by forcing accountants, lawyers and others who set up murky legal and financial structures to become whistleblowers. Browder, author of the best-seller “Freezing Order: “A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath,” says Russia’s war in Ukraine has increased attention on how oligarchs are custodians of President Vladimir Putin’s wealth. He spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. A former president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development says “a lawyer shouldn’t do anything illegal” but you can’t ask them to turn in a client.