If any Australian politician ever wanted to shirtfront Vladimir Putin they'd do well to speak with Bill Browder.

The British-American hedge fund manager, described as the number one enemy of the Russian President, has helped six countries introduce Magnitsky Acts — laws that have infuriated Russia's leader by punishing criminals and human rights violators who have flourished under his regime.

There are now Magnitsky Acts in six countries and Mr Browder has launched his campaign for Australia to introduce its own version of the law.

"I would like to find a multi-party group of advocates to join me in Australia, in the way I have done it in the US, UK and Canada, to put a Magnitsky Act to the Australian parliament," he told 7.30.

Magnitsky Acts work on the principle that Russian fraudsters make their money at home and then spend and invest their ill-gotten gains in Western countries.

The acts aim to deliver justice where the Russian courts have failed, through visa bans and the freezing of assets, preventing criminals from investing in safe havens.

"The most important thing is all legitimate rule-of-law countries sign up," Mr Browder said.

"The Russians are not going to keep all their money in Dubai or China, they're going to keep their money in the US, Canada, and Australia, in safe countries.

"So, if we can disrupt the safety of their money it really does have a profound impact on their psychology."

'The bravest man I have ever known'

Sergei Magnitsky's investigations uncovered massive fraud. ( Supplied )

The world's first Magnitsky Act was passed by the US in 2012 after Mr Browder successfully lobbied Republican senator John McCain and Democrat senator Ben Cardin to co-sponsor a bill.

The laws are named in honour of former tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in custody in 2009 after he had been hired by Mr Browder to investigate one of the biggest cases of fraud in Russian history.

"Sergei Magnitsky was the bravest man I have ever known," Mr Browder said.

"He took on the Russian Government and exposed a massive crime committed by officials and ultimately paid for it with his life."

Mr Browder was once Russia's biggest foreign investor through his hedge fund Hermitage Capital.

He made his clients a stack of money at the turn of the century as the former communist country sold off state assets.

But after exposing the flow of dirty money to bureaucrats and cronies, Mr Browder was expelled from Russia. He says his office was raided and officials seized his papers, which were then used to steal a number of his companies.

He hired Mr Magnitsky to get bottom of what was going on and the unassuming tax lawyer soon uncovered a much bigger fraud.

"He discovered that in addition to stealing our investment holding companies, the perpetrators used the stolen companies to steal $US230 million of taxes we paid to the Russian Government," Mr Browder said.

Mr Magnitsky alleged the perpetrators were police, organised crime figures, members of the Interior Ministry and tax officials.

Tortured and killed while awaiting trial

Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in custody. ( Supplied )

In one case alone, senior Moscow tax official Olga Stepanova was accused of transferring $US11 million of the stolen tax money into her husband's Swiss bank account.

"For [exposing fraud, Mr Magnitsky] was arrested by the same officials he exposed," Mr Browder said.

"He was put in pre-trial detention, tortured for 358 days and killed at the age of 37, leaving a wife and two children."

Russian authorities say Mr Magnitsky died of a weak heart.

But in his final days he was denied treatment for severe pancreatitis and was beaten up by prison guards.

7.30 has seen the autopsy photos that show bruises and cuts on Mr Magnitsky's body.

Family and friends tried to get justice for Mr Magnitsky but all those involved in his death were exonerated.

Remarkably, three years after he died in custody, the lawyer was prosecuted on charges of tax evasion.

It was the first time in Russian history a dead man had been put on trial.

'Fraud goes straight up to Vladimir Putin'

Vladimir Putin tried to have Bill Browder put on Interpol's Red Notice list. ( Reuters: Maxim Shemetov )

Mr Browder said Mr Magnitsky never got justice because the crimes he exposed go all the way to the top echelons of power in Russia.

"This fraud goes straight up to Vladimir Putin," he said.

"We've traced money from the fraud going to his nominee, a man named Sergei Roldugin, who happens to be the godfather of Putin's children, his oldest friend from childhood, who has been exposed through the Panama Papers as a cellist who is worth $US2 billion.

"Which means, for all intents and purposes, Putin got the money."

Mr Putin in turn has accused Mr Browder of criminal behaviour.

He has tried to have Interpol place Mr Browder on the Red Notice list to prevent him travelling internationally.

At a press conference in October last year the President attacked both Mr Browder and Mr Magnitsky.

"What lies underneath these events? Underneath are the criminal activities of an entire gang led by one particular man, I believe Browder is his name," Mr Putin said.

Mr Browder said he knows Magnitsky Acts are effective because he sees how enraged they make the Russian President.

"Putin has made this his single-largest foreign policy priority, to stop the Magnitsky Act," he said.

Russians lobby Trump campaign team

Russia has unsuccessfully lobbied the US to repeal its Magnitsky Act. ( Reuters: Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin )

The importance Mr Putin places on stopping Magnitsky Acts was on display at the now infamous meeting in Trump Tower in June 2016, that is now a part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the US election.

Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya met with then members of the Trump campaign team, Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and Donald Trump Junior.

Briefing notes left at the meeting show that the Russian lawyer was lobbying the Trump team to overturn the Magnitsky Act.

But the lobbying didn't work. Two months ago the Trump administration sanctioned another five human rights violators under the Magnitsky Act.

7.30 approached Russia's ambassadors to Australia and the UK for interviews but both declined.

Russia's representative in Canberra, Grigory Logvinov, referred the ABC to Mr Putin's public comments about the Magnitsky Act.

Human Rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson, who has represented Mr Browder, has described Magnitsky Acts as "one of the most important new developments in human rights".

He wants to see an Australian Magnitsky Act that targets human rights violators of all nationalities.

"We're a proud country, why should we host human rights violators?" he told 7.30.

"Those from Sri Lanka who were responsible for the Tamil genocide, those judges in Hong Kong who are now breaching international law by repunishing pro-democracy demonstrators.

"We shouldn't allow these people in, and we shouldn't allow them to put their children in our best private schools, or put their money in our banks, or put their parents in our hospitals."

'This is Sergei Magnitsky's legacy'

Bill Browder spent years living in Russia before he was banned. ( Supplied: Bill Browder )

Despite threats on his own life, Mr Browder now sees this as his life's work.

He will continue to campaign to have Magnitsky Acts introduced around the world and he hopes Australia will be the next country to adopt new legislation.

"This is Sergei Magnitsky's legacy," he said.

"He was 37 years old. He was a patriot. He was viciously tortured and killed for trying to do the right thing in his country.

"Perhaps by having his name on a piece of human rights legislation which sanctions torturers and murderers some people will think twice about doing it in their country and he might save some lives."