The European Court rejected Mordashov’s claim to lift sanctions against him – Kommersant

The claim of Severstal owner Alexey Mordashov against the Council of the European Union demanding that he be removed from the sanctions list was rejected by the European Court. The court’s decision is explained, in particular, by the fact that Mr. Mordashov was unable to convince the judges that he had sold his stake in Rossiya Bank on market conditions to an independent buyer. Relevant solution court published on September 20, drew attention to it Frank Media.

The case materials are about the sale by Severgroup (owned by Mr. Mordashov) of 5.481% of the shares of Rossiya Bank to an unknown buyer. The deal was completed in 2022. In March 2023, the European Court invited the entrepreneur, who had already filed a lawsuit to lift the sanctions in May 2022, to submit documents with the exact date of sale of the stake in Rossiya and with information about the buyer.

It follows from the court decision that Mr. Mordashov presented the court with edited Severgroup documents, but they still do not indicate the buyer. The transaction amount indicated in the documents provided by the businessman amounted to 600 million rubles. It was closed on July 21, 2022. For comparison, the court cites TASS data as of March 1, 2014, according to which Rossiya’s capital was 45.2 billion rubles and income was 125.2 billion rubles.

“This indicates that the shares were likely sold for much less than their actual value. This circumstance, as well as the absence of any mention of the identity of the recipient, reduces the evidentiary value of these documents, since they do not allow us to establish that the transfer of this block of shares was carried out to a third party independent of the applicant,” the court decision says.

The refusal to lift sanctions against Mr. Mordashov is also explained by the fact that the entrepreneur is still “benefiting from his connections with the Russian authorities,” follows from the decision of the European Court. According to the court, Rossiya Bank, of which the entrepreneur’s company was a shareholder, is considered the personal bank of high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation. This bank opened branches in Crimea and Sevastopol, the court added.

In addition, Severgroup owned significant shares in the National Media Group (NMG), which, according to the court, controls television channels that actively support the Russian Federation’s policy in Ukraine. Finally, the court notes that Power Machines, owned by Mr. Mordashov, is responsible for the sale of four wind turbines in Crimea.

About the fact that Mr. Mordashov sold share in Rossiya Bank, it became known in December 2022. In May, sources from RBC and Bloomberg reported that the businessman’s structures had withdrawn from NMG’s capital.

Rossiya Bank primarily serves large corporate clients; the bank’s head office is located in St. Petersburg. The organization is under US and EU blocking sanctions, the bank is disconnected from SWIFT.

Erdni Kagaltynov