Sanctions case law

Ireland

See the Irish High Court judgment of 31 July 2023 in the matter of GTLK Europe DAC and ors and in the matter of the Companies Act 2014 [2023] IEHC 486 where the liquidators applied for certain directions and declarations relating to the exercise of their powers in respect of assets of companies.

See the Irish High Court judgment (August 2022) of Sanfey J in the case of Pola Logistics Limited as plaintiff and GTLK Europe DAC, GTLK Malta Four Limited and Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) as defendants. The judgment is available free of charge from the Irish courts service website and see some further information on the case under the "Irish Central Bank " heading on "Ireland" page

United Kingdom

Click to read the July 2024 judgment in Hellard and others vs OJSC Rossiysky Kredit Bank and others (including OFSI ) of the High court in the UK which considered ownership and control  under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 .Click here for an article by UK law firm Wedlake Bell LLP on the Rossiysky Kredit Bank case.

UK Court of Appeal case dated 6 October 2023 Mints & Ors v PJSC National Bank Trust & Anor [2023] EWCA Civ 1132 . “Regulations” in  the judgment are the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. There were three issues raised in the appeal, the third of which was whether a designated person controls an entity within the meaning of Regulation 7 where the entity is not a personal asset of the designated person, but the designated person is able to exert influence over it by virtue of the political office that he or she holds at the relevant time. (The control issue).The control issue was not necessary to determine the case and the remarks are therefore obiter dicta ,not a binding part of the decision and of persuasive authority only .The judge said  that the wording of Regulation 7 does not distinguish between different forms of “non-ownership control” or “calling the shots”. He concluded that control can be established under Regulation 7 by whatever means including political and corporate office. In any event the judge said that even though he would have found for the appellants on this issue, because they lost on the first two issues, the appeal must be dismissed. Click here for a recent news item on the case.

A UK High court case in July 2022 saw minority shareholders of London-listed gold producer Petropavlovsk failing to persuade an English judge to adjourn its sale to a Russian metals’ producer, days after he allowed the transaction to go ahead in the wake of UK and EU sanctions. See in particular the Appendix to the judgment which considers the application of the relevant sanctions’ legislation to the present case, the relevant UK sanctions legislation and the relevant EU sanctions regime. Click here for a short article by Taylor Wessing on the case.

Click here for the UK case in August 2022 in the matter of Nostrum Oil & Gas Plc ('The Company') and in the matter of the Companies Act 2006 which considered the issues of sanctions and applications for licences .Click here for an article by Brodies LLP containing its insights into this case and  Petropavlovsk plc (in administration).

Sanctions and legal representation -Navigator Equities Ltd v Deripaska [2022] EWHC 1637 (Comm) and  Maroil Trading Inc v Cally Shipholdings Inc [2022] EWHC 1201 (Comm).See Herbert Smith Freehills September 2022 article on the subject.

Continue below to access some news articles on the cases .If you have a subscription to the Irish/Sunday Independent click the link to access the article in the Sunday Independent on Sept 4^Th 2022 in relation to sanctions derogations . Central Bank allowed Russian state firm GTLK a break from sanctions to pay millions of euro in wages, rent and legal fees - Independent.ie . The article is instructive on derogations. According to the article which accessed the information through a freedom of information request, the Irish Central Bank  granted some derogations as did the Irish Dept of Enterprise Trade and Employment.

The article is Copyright Mediahuis Ireland. Reproduced by kind permission of the Sunday Independent.

Please also see another article of interest from the Sunday Independent on 14 August 2022.The article reports on the grant by the Department of Foreign Affairs, one of the Irish competent authorities for the enforcement of sanctions, of a number of derogations  in respect of legal representation of sanctioned individuals. Click the link to access the article if you have a subscription to the Irish/Sunday Independent.

Copyright Mediahuis Ireland. Reproduced by kind permission of the Sunday Independent.

Please click here to read an RTE news report of August 2022  High court case on a sanctions dispute over ships in which the Irish central bank is also a defendant. Judgment has now been given in that case; see the recent High Court judgment (August 2022) of Sanfey J in the case of Pola Logistics Limited as plaintiff and GTLK Europe DAC, GTLK Malta Four Limited and Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) as defendants. The judgment is available free of charge from the Irish courts service website and see some further information on the case under the "Irish Central Bank " heading below.

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