A London-based Russian-born billionaire has become the UK’s highest taxpayer with a nearly £490mln bill.

Alan Gerko, who accumulated much of his wealth via his robot trading firm XTX Markets, valued at £5bn, renounced his Russian citizenship last year.

According to the Sunday Times Tax List, the 43-year-old paid more tax last year than Bet365 founder Denise Coates, sportswear tycoon Stephen Rubin and hedge fund billionaire Sir Chris Hohn.

Other top payers include Harry Potter author JK Rowling, Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin, Sting and the Duke of Westminster.

The top 10 taxpayers handed over £2.3bn to the Treasury, an increase of nearly 14% compared to a year earlier.

Gerko is a maths graduate of Moscow State University and the New Economic School, beginning his finance career as a Moscow-based researcher at Deutsche Bank in 2004.

He then moved to the UK in 2006, where he joined hedge fund GSA Capital in 2009 before founding XTX Markets.

XTX generates revenues of more than £1.4bn and employs algorithmic trading strategies to provide liquidity to businesses, exchanges and trading venues. 

By Jai Singh, Proactive

JUBA, JANUARY 25^th 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudan government has started preparations for the elections slated for end of transitional period in December 2024, and has asked the United Nations to accord an electoral assistance, according to a letter sent by the government to the UN via its mission in South Sudan.

The letter obtained by Sudans Post stressed that the unity government has an obligation to conduct elections at the end of the transitional period and as such the government is appealing for help from the world body to prepare for the polls.

“…. there is a need to begin planning and preparations for the elections, including establishing the legal framework, reconstitution of the National Elections Commission, working with political parties, civil society and the media raising public awareness and creating conditions for inclusive participation of citizens,” the letter signed by minister of cabinet affairs Martin Elia Lomoro reads in part.

“Acknowledging this, the Government of South Sudan hereby requests the United Nations to provide electoral assistance to the government and relevant national institutions in support to the preparations and conduct of peaceful, inclusive and credible elections in the Republic of South Sudan,” the letter dated January 24, 2023 added.

The Reconstituted Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGONU) was formed in February 2020 under the terms of the revitalized peace agreement which was signed in September 2018 to end a five-year-old deadly conflict.

It is provided for in the deal that the government conducts free and fair elections at the end of a thirty-six-months transitional period ending next month. But the parties extended the transitional period for twenty-four more months with elections being scheduled for December 2024.

“The Government of South Sudan would be grateful if necessary steps could be immediately taken to work toward this goal through the provision of comprehensive electoral assistance to the upcoming electoral processes of South Sudan as envisioned within the R-ARCSS,” the government said in the letter.

According to the 2018 peace agreement, elections should be conducted when all provisions of the revitalized peace agreement are implemented by the transitional government.

These activities include but not limited to the deployment of the necessary unified forces, which is necessary in the protection of civilians and to also avoid another split within the army in case the result of the elections is contested by any of the parties, creation of necessary conditions for return of the displaced, and reparation and healing.

Also short-named NUF, the Necessary Unified Forces have been graduated in its first phase, but have not yet been armed and deployed. The government is claiming that it has no guns to arm them as it continues to blame a 2018 UN arms embargo for the country’s ability to import weapons for the army. - Sudans Post

KIGALI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda said a fighter jet from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) violated its airspace "for the third time" Tuesday afternoon and that "defensive measures were taken."

"Today at 5:03 pm, a Sukhoi-25 from the DR Congo violated Rwanda airspace for the third time," read a short statement issued by the Office of the Government Spokesperson. "Rwanda asks the DRC to stop this aggression."

The DRC has not yet responded to Kigali's latest allegation.

Rwanda's government statement Tuesday came shortly after videos and photos on social media showing a Sukhoi-25 being shot at as it flew low over Lake Kivu before landing at Goma airport near the border while still on fire. The fire was extinguished but the jet was badly damaged. The videos and photos have yet to be verified.

This is not the first time that Rwanda has accused DRC jets of violating its airspace.

On Nov. 8 last year, the Office of the Rwandan Government Spokesperson said in a statement that a DRC Sukhoi-25 fighter violated Rwandan airspace and briefly touched down at Rubavu Airport in its Western Province.

"No military action was taken by Rwanda in response, and the jet returned to DRC," the statement said at the time. "Rwandan authorities have protested this provocation to the DRC government, who acknowledged the incident."

Relations between the two neighboring countries have soured since fighting resumed between M23 rebels and DRC government troops in the DRC's eastern North Kivu Province.

The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing M23 rebels, but Rwanda denies the charge.

Rwanda has also accused the Congolese army of using heavy weaponry, targeting Rwanda's border zone in renewed fighting in eastern DRC. - Xinhua