Check! Sanctions hit World Chess Federation

The World Chess Federation, FIDE, has announced that its bank accounts have been closed by its bank, UBS, on account of the presence on the OFAC SDN list of its former president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Ilyumzhinov was also, between 1993 and 2010, the first president of the Republic of Kalmykia, formerly part of the Soviet Union.

In a 13 February letter to FIDE members, the organisation’s treasurer, Adrian Siegel, said that in 2015 Ilyumzhinov was placed on a sanctions list for facilitating purchases by the Syrian government of oil from ISIL.

In the same year, he withdrew from ‘any legal, financial and business operations of FIDE,’ despite which, wrote Siegel, ‘the Swiss bank UBS has announced that they will immediately close our accounts. The white money strategy in Switzerland does not allow business with institutions or persons on the sanctions list of the US Department of the Treasury…In summary, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’s problems severely damage FIDE’s business activities and we have to look for a new bank connection.’