Mordashov could not convince the EU court to lift sanctions against him

The COURT , in particular, did not agree with the arguments of the main shareholder of Severstal regarding the sale in 2022 of the share of his company Severgroup in Rossiya Bank. The main shareholder of Severstal Alexey Mordashov

The European Court refused to lift sanctions against the main shareholder of Severstal, Alexei Mordashov (according to FORBES , the fortune of the businessman and his family is $20.9 billion, he ranks fifth in the ranking). The court, in particular, did not agree with Mordashov’s arguments regarding the sale in 2022 of the share of his Severgroup company in Rossiya Bank. The corresponding court decision was published on September 20, and Frank Media drew attention to it.

As follows from the decision, the court in March of this year invited the businessman to provide evidence indicating the exact date of transfer of 5.481% of shares in the bank for 600 million rubles. (about €5.8 million) and the identity of the recipient. However, in response, the applicant “provided redacted documents” from Severgroup, which did not indicate the recipient, the decision says. The court also refers to TASS data , according to which as of March 1, 2014, the capital of Rossiya Bank amounted to 45.2 billion rubles. (about €908 million), and income - 125.2 billion rubles. (about €2.5 billion). The deal was closed on July 21 last year.

As the court stated, “this indicates that the shares sold were likely sold at a value significantly lower than their actual value.” “This circumstance, as well as the absence of any mention of the identity of the recipient, weakens the evidentiary value of these documents, since they do not allow us to establish that the transfer of the specified block of shares was made in favor of a third party independent of the applicant,” the decision says.

The reason for the refusal to lift sanctions against Mordashov was also that he, as mentioned by the court, is the chairman of the board of directors of Severgroup, a former shareholder of Rossiya, “which is considered the personal bank of high-ranking officials” in RUSSIA. In addition, Severgroup owned shares of the National Media Group (NMG; it includes, in particular, Channel One, REN TV, Channel Five, STS and St. Petersburg 78.ru), which controls television channels that support the policies of the Russian government in relation to Ukraine, the court said. Severgroup also owns the Power Machines company, which is responsible for the sale of wind turbines in Crimea, the court indicated.

RBC sent a request to Mordashov’s representative.

Mordashov came under EU sanctions at the end of February last year, after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine . “I am far from politics and all my life I have created economic value for the companies in which I worked in Russia and abroad,” the businessman said in response. In May he filed a lawsuit with the European Court.

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In December last year, a representative of Mordashov told RBC that he no longer owned shares in Rossiya Bank and NMG. In May, sources from RBC and BLOOMBERG reported that the businessman’s structures had withdrawn from NMG’s capital . The deal was initiated even before the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, and closed after. The Globe and Mail newspaper wrote about the sale of Mordashov’s shares in Rossiya Bank, citing Severstal press secretary Anastasia Mishanina. Mordashov is also under US and Canadian sanctions.