LUXEMBOURG, September 11. /TASS/. The Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg rejected the claims of entrepreneurs Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven, German Khan, Gennady Timchenko and his wife Elena Timchenko against the decisions of the EU Council, which oblige Russian entrepreneurs to declare their economic resources in EU countries as part of the sanctions imposed due to the conflict in Ukraine, a TASS correspondent reported.
The court upheld the decision of the EU Council that all of them are obliged to declare their economic resources and cooperate with the competent national authorities of the EU countries.
As stated in the court files, the plaintiffs stated that there was no legal basis for the decision of the EU Council to oblige them to declare their resources within the framework of the sanctions.
"According to the applicants, the Council cannot impose any positive obligations, particularly where they are so burdensome, on the persons on which it imposes sanctions," the document says.
The plaintiffs also argued that the Council of the EU acts as a legislative body in criminal matters.
"The applicants claim, in that connection, that, by requiring Member States to treat any deviation from the Council’s requirement to declare assets as a circumvention of sanctions, the Council, which is aware that the circumvention of sanctions is a criminal offence in 25 of the 27 Member States, has acted as a legislative authority in criminal matters," according to the court’s files.
The European Court of Justice also rejected the claim of the National Settlement Depository (NSD) demanding the lifting of EU sanctions imposed due to the conflict in Ukraine.
"The court dismissed the claim and ruled that the National Settlement Depository must pay its costs and the costs of the EU Council," the judge said.
Finally, the EU court dismissed the claims of the wife of businessman Alexey Mordashov, Marina, and businessman Musa Bazhaev demanding the lifting of EU sanctions.