Court in Germany declares illegal searches in villas in Usmanov's case

German prosecutor's officefailed to substantiate in COURT a warrant for searches of real estate and a yacht, which took place in the case of Alisher Usmanov. The representative of the businessman counts,

On May 12, the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court declared illegal and canceled search warrants on villas on Lake Tegernsee, an apartment near Frankfurt and other properties in Germany, and on the Dilbar mega-yacht in the port of Bremen, which German prosecutors associated with businessman Alisher Usmanov . This was reported by the newspaper Der Spiegel.

“We welcome the fair decision of the German court. We expect that the persecution of Usmanov in Germany will be stopped, ”a representative of the businessman told RBC.

In September 2022, searches and investigative actions were carried out at 24 properties in Germany with the involvement of 250 law enforcement officers, the Munich prosecutor's office reported. During these searches, documents and valuable art objects were seized. Then Spiegel and Merkur wrote that the German authorities suspected Usmanov of tax evasion (on income and gifts totaling about €555 million between 2014 and 2022), failure to declare assets and violation of EU sanctions rules.. According to them, the businessman was a German tax resident and spent most of his time in a residence near Munich. But a spokesman for Usmanov said he had been paying taxes in RUSSIA since 2014 and, thanks to a double tax treaty, was not required to pay income tax in Germany.

At the end of April 2023, the Bild newspaper reported that employees of the German Federal Criminal Police Office and the Bavaria Criminal Police Office conducted searches in the Usmanov case at the Allianz Arena in Munich and at the headquarters of the Bayern football club. The press service of the businessman called these investigative actions “almost comical”: “The alleged argument of the investigators, according to which they apparently believe that they can prove money laundering by Alisher Usmanov, since he attended Bayern matches, looks almost comical ".

The Frankfurt am Main Regional Court motivated its decision by the fact that the prosecutor's office could not substantiate Usmanov's initial suspicion of money laundering, Spiegel notes. In addition, the judges criticized the fact that the investigators based their arguments to a large extent on the Alexei Navalny film on YouTube (apparently referring to the “He is not Dimon to you” investigation, which spoke of assets attributed to former Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his connections with Usmanov), continues the publication. The businessman's lawyers proved in Russia that this film contained damaging information about him, so it had to be removed (this did not happen).

The Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), founded by Navalny, has been recognized in Russia as a foreign agent, an extremist organization and banned.

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“The conclusions of the court emphasize its (the investigation of the German prosecutor’s office.) Complete futility and once again raise the question of the appropriateness and validity of large-scale investigative measures involving the press, which were paid for by German taxpayers,” a representative of the businessman told RBC. According to him, the criminal prosecution of Usmanov in Germany is "political in nature." However, it is unlikely that the confiscated items and documents will have to be returned anytime soon, Spiegel points out: the searches were also secured by rulings on other charges against Usmanov, which are still in effect. For example, recently the District Court of Munich dismissed Usmanov's complaint about searches in the proceedings for violating sanctions.

In February 2022, after the start of Russia’s military special operation in Ukraine , Usmanov, along with other Russian businessmen, came under US sanctions , and then under UK and EU sanctions. The businessman declared the injustice of this decision, which hurt his "honor, dignity and business reputation." A few months later, he appealed the inclusion in the EU sanctions list.

In January 2023, it became known that Usmanov left the bureau of the board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP). In his letter to the RSPP, it was said that he was asking to be released from membership in the bureau "in connection with his retirement and retirement from active work."

Usmanov is the founder and largest shareholder (49%) of the USM group, which includes Metalloinvest, Udokan Copper and MegaFon. He is ranked eighth on the list of the richest Russian billionaires according to FORBES . The magazine estimates his fortune at $14.4 billion.