According to the "Daily Mail" local time on February 11, British businessman Nick Meads sold 100 military vehicles to Ukraine in less than a year. During this period, his business account deposit in the bank increased 40 times, to 8 million pounds (about 66 million yuan).
Barclays Bank, one of Britain's largest commercial banks, noticed the anomaly in Miz's account and sent a notice to Mr. Mitz in December that it would close all of his accounts, including his business and personal accounts, from February 20. At the same time, Meez has not been able to open accounts with other British banks.
Miz said his business and life would not only be affected, but would also put "potentially life-saving military supplies at risk."
"In the past year, I have sent 100 (military) vehicles, including tanks with machine guns, to Ukraine, but I have been expelled from the bank." He said in an interview with British media.
According to Mitz, he first auctioned the vehicles of the British army at auction, refurbished them and sold them to Ukraine in military vehicles. In addition to tanks, he sent Ukraine 35 armored transporters, 25 Land Rover armored vehicles and Pinzgauer Vector military utility vehicles.
In the businessman's opinion, he has been working with Barclays Bank for forty years and has always had a very good reputation. As for the sale of military vehicles to Ukraine, Miz believes that he just wants to help Ukraine and give them much-needed armed support.
Meads, 61, has a farm in southern Northamptonshire, England, where he runs a driving experience farm that offers old military vehicles, such as tanks, to military enthusiasts.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, he set his business sights on Ukraine, delivering military vehicles to Ukraine. Meez's business activities were legal because all of his transactions were approved by the UK's Department of Trade and Industry.
Miz revealed that his business has been classified as "high risk" by Barclays and that his farm currently has about 300 military vehicles that may not be shipped to Ukraine right now.
Roughly calculated, if Miz could sell all 300 military vehicles he had in his hand to Ukraine, his account would increase to tens of millions of pounds.
The restrictions imposed on him by British domestic banks forced Miz to consider opening an account in an overseas country like Singapore, so that he could continue to "supply" military vehicles to Ukraine.
Without a bank account, Miz said, he could not continue to send vehicles to Ukraine. According to the original plan, he was supposed to supply Ukraine with 15 armored vehicles, 7 personnel carriers and 2 armored recovery vehicles in the coming days.
Recently, John Attlee, 66, a conservative in the House of Lords, noticed Miz's activities and the difficulties he faced, and decided to help Metz.
The count also singled out Mitz's "feat" at a House of Lords meeting on February 9, saying: "Very few people in the UK are capable of supplying Ukraine with these armored vehicles, and Barclays' actions will result in fewer Ukrainian soldiers benefiting from this protection." It is likely that some Ukrainian soldiers will die from this. ”
Richard came from a distinguished background, his grandfather was former British Prime Minister Clement Attlee (Prime Minister 1945-1951), the first Earl of Attlee. In the 80s, Richard ventured into the field of commercial vehicle repair and refurbishment. Also, in the 90s, Richard joined the army and fought in the Gulf War.
In terms of aid to Ukraine, the Third Earl Attlee has always been a strong advocate of supplying Ukraine with as many weapons as possible.
Richard believes that "from a strategic point of view, Barclays' actions are undoubtedly completely contrary to the intention of the British government, which is to do everything in its power to prevent Ukraine from being defeated." It is unacceptable for banks to withdraw banking services to businesses that are helping the British and Ukrainian governments achieve their strategic goals without giving any reason. ”
Barclays later responded, fearing that he was suspected of money laundering because Miz was connected with Ukrainian businessmen, not the Ukrainian government, and the money in his account was soaring too fast.
After Richard came forward to communicate with Barclays, the latter offered to resume banking services to Miz if the British finance minister wrote a letter asking the bank to continue to provide banking services to Miz or if Miz promised not to sell military weapons to Ukraine again.
So Richard went to the British finance minister again, but the latter thought there was nothing wrong with the bank's operation. Even so, Richard is trying to secure a solution for Meez, hoping that the Bank of England will relax its regulations on money laundering.
Earl Attlee is so desperate, is Mez a character? What do you think is the reason?