Present in Europe despite the ban
Alexey Kuzmichev, 1 of Russia's most wealthy citizens and close associate Vladimir Putin, has a luck estimated at about $6.5 billion. It is the main shareholder of Alfa-Bank Bank. Following Russia's attack on Ukraine, France decided to confiscate any of its properties and yachts La Petite Ourse and La Petite Ourse II.
It is not rather clear how the Russian oligarch found himself in France. In March 2022, he was placed on an EU sanction list which prohibited him from entering its territory. The French paper "Le Monde", citing its source, reports that Kuzmichev moved to France shortly after being placed on a sanction list.
One of the richest Russians and close to Kremlin oligarch Alexey Kuzmichev was arrested in France on charges of money laundering.
— Marcin Gielzak (@marcingielzak) October 30, 2023
The French services, in addition to the detention of Kuzmichev, conducted searches in respective of his estates, including the Paris mansion and the Saint-Tropez villa. 1 of the search sites found packages of cash. The service concluded that the oligarch was guilty of taxation fraud and money laundering.
Return
Kuzmichev was not satisfied with this decision to confiscate any of his assets and took legal action against the French authorities. Finally, in October of the erstwhile year, the French government ordered the return of Kuzmichev's yacht by customs services, pointing to “procedural errors” made by the service.
Here comes the subject La Petite Ourse, or 27-metre yacht. It was confiscated by customs agents on 16 March 2022. It was determined to be owned by Alexey Kuźmichev. The Paris Court of Appeal stated that customs officials did not follow appropriate procedures erstwhile boarding a ship docked in Antibes on the Azure Coast. erstwhile presenting themselves to the shipyard authorities, agents appealed to the fraud investigation, which, under French law, entitles customs officers to search the ship.
Alexey Kuzmichev, 1 of the richest Russians and the main shareholder of the Alfa-Bank bank, is suing France for, in his opinion, the illegal seizure of 2 yachts.
— Janusz Piechociński (@Piechocinski) September 25, 2022
Kuzmichev took legal action against the French authorities to regain access to its 2 yachts stored in France. Although the oligarch was then, as at present, sanctioned and its assets were frozen, it gained access to the yacht and was given the chance to usage it in French waters.
Kuzmevich is not the only blacklist
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the European Union extended the list of sanctioned persons who are banned from entering the EU and whose assets have been frozen. This list includes about a 1000 people, including mainly military, officials, politicians, lawyers and propaganda, but besides respective twelve Russian oligarchs and businessmen and members of their families.
Sanctions include a ban on financial transactions with EU entities, including cryptocurrency, and the freezing of bank accounts, assets and resources of related companies, for example erstwhile they hold more than 50% of the company's shareholding or have a decisive influence on its development. Financial restrictions are introduced straight by the associate States under the Regulation and the European Commission monitors their implementation. akin sanctions have besides been introduced by Switzerland and Monaco, where large Russian assets are located.
The country where investigative journalists investigating taxation breaks are killed, abortion law is the most draconian in Europe, with Russian oligarchs washing stolen Russian rubles there for years and inactive have a safe haven there.
No wonder Sławek feels at home. https://t.co/GN4R2MlWTCpic.twitter.com/VMV8f730Zo
— Bart K🏳️🌈🌹⚛️💙💛 (@SponyBart) July 13, 2023
Some associate States actively confiscate oligarch assets specified as luxury yachts and aircraft, villas and apartments and bank deposits. France and Germany even created peculiar units for this purpose. However, many countries have not made information available or have provided only incomplete data.
Unfortunately, many assets have not been blocked. any oligarchs moved their yachts and aircraft to 3rd countries, e.g. Roman Abramowicz transferred 2 super yachts to Turkey. These blacklisted individuals besides resigned to the boards of companies, had already withdrawn investments or transferred ownership of shares to another entities. For example, oligarch Andrei Melniczenko left the boards of EuroChem Group AG and SUEK and withdrew its assets.
