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German prosecutors confirm plan to seize 720 mln euros of Russian assets

The statement from the prosecutor’s office said the Russian institution in question was listed in an EU sanctions order on June 3, 2022

BERLIN, December 20. /TASS/. Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor's Office has confirmed it filed a court motion seeking to seize more than 720 million euros of Russian assets and transfer the money into state coffers.

The office said in a statement that it wants to "seize 720 million euros of funds deposited by a Russian financial institution in a Frankfurt am Main bank account because of an attempt to violate embargo regulations, which is criminalized under the German Foreign Trade and Payments Act."

German prosecutors didn’t name the owner of the funds, identifying it only as a "Russian financial institution." Der Spiegel reported that the owner is Russia’s National Settlement Depositary.

The statement from the prosecutor’s office said the Russian institution in question was listed in an EU sanctions order on June 3, 2022.

"As a consequence, any assets of the entity deposited with European financial institutions could no longer be subject to transactions. Shortly after the listing, unknown individuals acting on behalf of the Russian financial institution attempted to draw more than 720 million euros from its account at a bank in Frankfurt am Main. The bank declined the transfer order," the prosecutor’s office said.

The office regards the abortive transaction as an attempt to circumvent EU sanctions.

If the court allows the confiscation of the funds, they will go into the state coffers, but it hasn’t been decided yet how they will be earmarked, according to Der Spiegel. For now, Germany has frozen, but not seized, about 5.3 billion euros of Russian money.

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