Germany is drafting a law allowing to deprive Russian citizens of their movable and immovable property
The German government’s sanctions against Russian citizens have no legal basis. For this reason, the German cabinet is drafting a special law which will enable more effective implementation of such measures as, for example, “freezing the assets belonging to the entourage of Russian President Vladimir Putin”, German news agency n-tv reported.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the new law should coordinate with all other laws adopted in connection with the anti-Russian sanctions, and should aim to seize property from wealthy Russians. The law will be drafted by experts from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy and Climate. The government has already set up a Task Force in mid-March to identify organisations and individuals whose assets are to be requisitioned under the sanctions legislation. Hundreds of cases are involved, n-tv specifies.
According to Finance Minister Christian Lindner, Germany does not yet have experience in implementing sanctions concerning Russian citizens. According to the information available to the government, those Russian oligarchs who have been included in the EU sanctions list continue to use their assets in most cases. For example, a sanctioned yacht may still be in port and used by its owner, but cannot be rented out. A flat belonging to an oligarch can also, despite the sanctions, be used by the oligarch himself, although it cannot be sold. Even a car can be used for personal purposes. The owner is forbidden to use the car as a taxi.
Therefore, it is assumed that the new law will allow forcible expropriation of movable and immovable property against oligarchs. For now this is only possible in case of criminal prosecution.
The German organization Transparency has also criticized the current legislation against “the rich and powerful Russians. According to its experts, “dirty” money from Russia is easy enough to hide in Germany. It is not possible to determine or prove what assets or other valuables the Russian oligarchs actually have in Germany.
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