A horse owned by Ramzan Kadyrov came in third in the Melbourne Cup race earlier this month, winning $420,000 for the Chechen strongman. But the money may never make it into Kadyrov’s pockets.
The Australian government is under intense pressure from political and human rights groups to seize the prize money,
Australian media report. The government now has a week to decide whether to freeze the Chechen leader’s winnings.
The leader of Australia’s Green Party,
Bob Brown, has called on the government to seize the funds "until the government knows exactly where it is going and can guarantee it won't be buying Mr. Kadyrov another Lamborghini or gold-plated revolver."
“There should be no flow of profits out of Australia to this brutal character,” Brown said, then praised the horses that edged out Kadyrov’s racer Mourilyan. "Thank god for Shocking and Crime Scene or Kadyrov would have the gold cup and $3.3 million," he said.
-- Margot Buff