Alexandra Tolstoy called NatWest a “kangaroo court” after he refused to explain why he closed her accounts. Photo: Julian Simmonds for The Telegraph
An aristocrat accused NatWest of acting like Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union after closing her bank accounts without explanation.
Alexandra Tolstaya, Anglo-Russian, said the bank acted like a “kangaroo court.” refusing to explain why he closed both of her accounts after six years.
The father of her three children is Sergei Pugachev, an oligarch with ties to Vladimir Putin, but the couple broke up in 2016 and Tolstoy said she ” haven't gotten a dime” since.
Tolstoy, who runs a horse riding business, said after receiving a 60-day notice letter to close, she wrote to NatWest's chief executive explaining she was no longer involved with Mr. Pugachev.
She said. that “he chose not to provide for us”, and reminded the bank that she was a British citizen, adding that their “capricious and prejudiced” decision put her children in “real danger”.
However, bank employees in the executive office the bank told her that they “are not required to enter into any discussion or explain their decision”, and refused to meet with her.
Tolstoy told The Telegraph that she still had not received a check for 12,000 pounds after closing her accounts last month.
Alexandra Tolstaya and Sergey Pugachev, her former partner. Photo: Pascal Chevalli/BBC Pictures
She said: “The irony is that it looks like the Soviet Union. If only they would at least tell you what you are accused of. Even in Stalin's kangaroo courts, you knew what you were accused of.
“It is absolutely unusual that this happens in this country. I have no idea what I'm accused of, maybe it's a mistake, maybe it's my name.”
Born in Pula, Tolstoy's father is Count Nikolai Tolstoy, historian, former candidate for UKIP and head of the Russian noble family of the same name.
She met Mr. Pugachev while teaching in Moscow. He later fell out with the Kremlin and was forced to sell the family home in Chelsea for £9m after Moscow pursued him through the English courts.
Tolstoy called her former lifestyle of private jets and credit cards for shopping “vulgar”, adding that Mr. Pugachev does not pay for maintenance.
“No one helped me,” she said. “Father does not help financially and has not helped since the beginning of 2016. Since then, I have not had a penny for maintenance. We weren't married. We never had a shared account.”
Tolstaya, who is a descendant of the writer Leo but no longer visits Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, said she was concerned about paying bills without a bank account.
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“I work hard, I pay my taxes. I literally live from hand to mouth. We are renting this house. We don't own it. If I fall behind, I'm out.”
“Rishi Sunak needs to pull himself together”
Her comments came after Nigel Farage and a number of other Brexit supporters said their accounts had been closed.< /p>
Tolstoy said: “I suppose this has nothing to do with political views, because I don’t express them publicly at all. I can only guess that maybe it's because I have a Russian name, but this hasn't happened to anyone in my family.”
She said that NatWest, a third of which is owned by the government, should have be responsible to taxpayers.
“The right of a person to have a bank account,” she added. “Rishi Sunak needs to pull himself together. This is clearly a widespread issue that is detrimental to many, many people making statements.”
A NatWest spokesperson said he sees compliance as a “priority issue” but could not comment on the specifics of the case.
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