Luxury yacht arrested in Hamburg: oligarch writes fire letter to Brussels
Created: 2022-06-08 09:51
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
The luxury yacht "Luna" is moored in Blohm+Voss Dock 10 on the Elbe in the port of Hamburg on April 13, 2022.
© Jonas Walzberg/dpa/archive image
The German authorities have detained the luxury yacht "Luna" owned by the Russian oligarch Farkhad Akhmedov in Hamburg.
In a letter he is now turning to the EU.
Hamburg – European and American authorities have been hunting down the assets of Russian oligarchs since the sanctions began.
These include deposits in bank accounts, luxury villas - and yachts.
In May, German authorities in Hamburg were able to arrest the super yacht "Luna".
According to investigations, it belongs to the oligarch Farkhad Akhmedov, who is on the EU sanctions list.
Luxury yacht "Luna" arrested by Russian oligarch in Hamburg
According to the EU, Akhmedov is a Russian businessman active in the energy sector and in Russian local politics.
"He is close to the Kremlin and is a leading businessman and active in sectors of the economy that serve as an important source of income for the government of the Russian Federation," the sanctions list reads.
"The luxury yacht M/S Luna is therefore subject to sanctions law and could be legally fixed or frozen in the port of Hamburg," says a statement from the Federal Criminal Police Office.
This means that the yacht is not allowed to leave the port permanently, but is “not able to go out to sea anyway for technical reasons”.
In concrete terms, the "freezing of economic resources" like the "Luna" under EU regulations means that the yachts cannot be used for services, but neither can they be sold, rented or encumbered.
The BKA gives the ship's estimated value at around 400 million euros.
Oligarch Akhmedov is fighting the sanctions
Akhmedov himself apparently wants his ship back – and to be removed from the sanctions list.
According to the British newspaper
The Times
, he submitted legal documents and a letter to Brussels last week.
In it, he explained through lawyers that he was not at all close to the Kremlin and had never been part of President Vladimir Putin's circle.
In addition, he has not been active in the energy sector for several years and is involved in a legal dispute with the Russian state-owned company Gazprom.
The EU authorities have not yet responded to the letter.
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Incidentally, it is not the first time that the "Luna" has been arrested: A few years ago, Akhmedov achieved dubious fame in the British tabloid press through the gigantic divorce war with his ex-wife Tatiana.
In the course of the dispute over money payments, the latter had the luxury yacht fixed in Dubai.
(lma/dpa)
