TORY links to Russian money must be properly addressed and dealt with “immediately”, an SNP MP has said.
Pete Wishart told The National that the links between senior Tories and those connected with Vladimir Putin must end now.
It follows on from revelations in The Mirror that the firm Jacob Rees-Mogg founded has links to a Russian billionaire sanctioned by Boris Johnson.
Gennady Timchenko, the boss of energy and transport giant Volga Group, was targeted by the Prime Minister in his first wave of sanctions against Vladimir Putin.
READ MORE: These are the Conservative Party's secretive links to Russia
He is now banned from the UK and has had his assets frozen.
Timchenko, who has links to Putin, is the director of Novatek, Russia's second-largest natural gas producer.
The firm is invested in by Somerset Capital Management, which Rees-Mogg founded.
Somerset Capital Management invests £5.7 million in Novatek on behalf of clients.
Rees-Mogg, who founded the company before he was an MP, reportedly earned an estimated £600,000 in dividends from the company last year.
The Tory MP gave up his directorship of the company in 2019 but still has a stake in it and can profit from it.
It comes as the Conservative Party faces mounting pressure to reject Russian money.
Wishart has now added fresh pressure on the Tories to immediately deal with the issue.
The Perth and North Perthshire MP told The National: “The links between senior Conservatives and Russian money is something that needs to be properly addressed and dealt with immediately.
Gennady Timchenko, the world's 78th richest man has links with the firm founded by a Tory MP and Vladimir Putin
"There can be no question that any cabinet member can have any relationship or association with those associated with Putin's financial interests.
“When all of our efforts are designed to ensure that Putin does not have the means to pursue his agenda of aggression it is not good enough that these ties continue to be exposed.”
Responding to the revelation, Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “No Tory minister should be profiteering from a company whose director and shareholder is one of Putin’s notorious cronies.
“This is yet another example showing links between dodgy foreign money and the Conservative Party.”
She added: “The influence of corrupt Russian money must be removed from the UK.”
The Conservative Party has seen millions in donations by oligarchs linked to the Russian state
Joshua Ausden of Somerset told The Mirror he could not comment on specific companies.
But he added: “Jacob Rees-Mogg no longer works at Somerset Capital and has had no role in any of the firm’s investment decisions for over a decade.
“Any partnership interest in Somerset is held in abeyance, in accordance with the ministerial code.”
It was also revealed that last year that Rees-Mogg's company sold off its shares in the Russian state-owned Sberbank.
The Conservative Party has denied that its links to Russian money in any way influences its policies.
READ MORE: 'Sewer of dirty Russian money going to Tory coffers,' Ian Blackford says
The Conservative Party has numerous links to Russian-associated donors, including Lubov Chernukhin, who is married to a Russian oligarch with ties to Putin.
Lubov is the largest female donor is British political history, giving the Tories £2m from 2012-2020.
The party has said its donors are people who happen to have Russian heritage.
Rees-Mogg has been approached for comment.
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