Russian billionaire Igor Rotenberg loses appeal for lifting of EU sanctions
The European Union’s General Court has upheld sanctions against Igor Rotenberg, rejecting the Russian oligarch’s plea that he received no considerable profits from the government in Moscow and therefore should not be subject to the restrictive measures.
In its 19 June ruling, the court said: ‘The applicant has failed to demonstrate that interpretation of the concept of “benefitting from Russian decision-makers or from the Government of the Russian Federation” – which concerns, inter alia, persons active in tendering procedures – goes beyond what is necessary in the light of the objective pursued, namely to exert pressure on the Russian authorities so that they bring an end to their actions and policies destabilising Ukraine.’
It added: ‘it must be found, as the Council did, that through the concession granted with no tendering procedure to the company RTITS, the applicant had the guarantee of receiving from the Russian State budget a significantly large proportion of the RUB 10.6 billion (approximately EUR 108 million) paid to RTITS.’
It noted that between 2017 and 2020 RTITS paid 1.8 billion roubles (approximately EUR 18 million) in dividends.
‘As the Council states, and notwithstanding the applicant’s claims at the hearing that the profit made by the applicant is not considerable for that type of investment compared to the valuation of the company RTITS, the fact that the applicant confirms that he holds 23.5% of RTITS entitles him to not inconsiderable, and even considerable, amounts every year, valued at more than EUR 7 million for the 2017 to 2020 period,’ the court said in its ruling.
It also cited the appellant’s association with his influential father Arkady Rotenberg, a close member of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
