MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. The US Treasury Department ignored the principle of presumption of innocence when introduced sanctions, the Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska says.
"Simple justice is meant. Presumption of innocence is the basic principle of the US legal system, which was obviously ignored when sanctions were applied against me. US authorities should follow the rule law, rather than targeting individuals because it is politically reasonable," a Deripaska’s spokesperson conveyed words of the businessman.
The US courts are sufficiently even-handed to support the law and the constitution of the United States, Deripaska said. "Only courts can decide whether an individual is guilty or not and I believe US court are sufficiently unbiased to support the US law and the Constitution," he noted.
"If OFAC [Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury - TASS] has any evidence supporting unjustified rumors and insinuations it likes to cite, it’s high time to present them," Deripaska said.
"I spent thirty years of my life, creating companies that are major players in the global economy, and I am not going to have this hard work, along with millions of jobs and means of living, ruined by political schemes," he added.
Deripaska filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the US Treasury Department and Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, as reported earlier today.
The businessman requests the court to order that the US financial authority lifts sanctions introduced earlier against him, exclude him from the so-called ‘Kremlin List’ and stop calling him ‘the oligarch.