by
N. Peter Kramer
Recently the European Court of Justice annulled sanctions against a Ukrainian oligarch, critisising the evidence relied on by the European Council and delivering a blow to the EU's sanctions regime. The Court struck down a Council decision that froze the assets of Andriy Portnov and imposed an EU travel ban.
The judges blasted the Council for relying solely on accusations from the Ukrainian Public Prosecutor's Office. While the letter from the prosecutor failed 'to provide any details concerning either the facts alleged against Mr. Portnov or his responsibility in that regard'.
The Council had justified Portnov by describing him as 'subject to criminal proceedings in Ukraine… in connection with the embezzlement of Ukrainian state funds and their illegal transfer outside Ukraine'.
The Court concluded Portnov was at the time only the subject of a preliminary investigation and putting him on the blacklist was based on flimsy accusations. This ECJ ruling will certainly have consequences for the pending cases of other blacklisted oligarchs who have also appealed to EU court, complaining they have been sanctioned solely based on recommendation from Ukraine's public prosecutor.
Last weekend local elections took place in some parts of Ukraine. Politico.eu reported that 'there was vote rigging, criminality, dodgy candidates, violence, widespread voter apathy and buckwheat handouts, and one set of elections even had to be canceled after it was 'discovered' late in the day that the printers used for producing ballot papers belonged to the oligarch bankrolling one of the candidates'.
Strange to read in a press release of the office of EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini that 'the elections (in Ukraine) were competitive, well organised overall and the campaign generally showed respect for the democratic process.'
The spectacles if not rose tinted are seriously steamed up in the EU palaces around Rondpoint Schuman in Brussels. Or is it just the usual prejudice…
