On 15 January 2025, the CJEU published the decision in Case T-748/22, unfortunately so far only in French. It establishes important standards for assessing sources of information concerning business partners and deals in detail with the definition of the beneficial owner or ultimate beneficial owner.
The case concerns the Russian businessman Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, who is also a Russian national and who unsuccessfully challenged Decision (CFSP) 2022/1530, by which he was included on 8 April 2022 in Annex I under No. 896 pursuant to Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 269/2014, i.e. he was subjected to an individual listing.
- Viatcheslav Moshe KANTOR (Вячеслав Моше КАНТОР) (alias Viatcheslav Vladimirovich KANTOR) (alias Вячеслав Владимирович КАНТОР)
- Date of birth: 8 September 1953
- Place of birth: Moscow, former USSR (now Russian Federation)
- Function: beneficial owner of the publicly traded Acron Group, one of Russia’s largest fertiliser manufacturers
- Nationality: Russian, Israeli and British
- Gender: male
- Viatcheslav Kantor is a leading Russian businessman who is the beneficial owner of the publicly traded Acron Group, one of Russia’s largest fertiliser manufacturers. He has close ties to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. These ties to the Russian President helped him secure his considerable wealth. He has openly expressed his support for and friendship with the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, on numerous occasions and maintains good relations with the Kremlin. He has thereby benefited from Russian decision-makers responsible for the unlawful annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation or the destabilisation of Ukraine. He is also one of the leading businesspersons operating in Russia who is involved in sectors of the economy providing a substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation, which is responsible for the unlawful annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation and the destabilisation of Ukraine.
He sought to have his own listing annulled. He claimed that he was now active only as a philanthropist for the Jewish community and was no longer involved in the management of the Acron Group fertiliser manufacturer. However, the ownership structure still showed him as a beneficiary of a trust into which the Acron Group had been transferred.
The CJEU dismissed the action and thereby upheld the listing. The judgment establishes standards for screening individuals and concludes that information contained in publicly available sources may be relied upon when conducting party screening
Wikipedia should not automatically be regarded as an insufficiently reliable source of information with only limited evidential value. It may be used as a starting point for screening. In particular, the “References” section may provide further information.
The fact that certain information concerning the person subject to the screening relates to sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom does not deprive that information of evidential value. References from other EU partner countries may be relied upon as trustworthy sources.
Although the EU authorities do not have investigative powers in third countries, they can, like companies, base their assessment only on publicly available sources of information, reports, press articles and intelligence reports. The mere fact that evidence originates from commercial websites is not sufficient to deprive that evidence of all evidential value. The fact that a media outlet belongs to a particular company does not automatically mean that the information presented there is unreliable.
Conclusion:
If the CJEU applies these standards when assessing whether an individual listing is justified, companies will likewise be expected to apply a comparable standard when screening their business partners, including, as a starting point, by conducting a Google search.
For the purposes of interpreting sanctions law, the term “beneficial owner” must be interpreted very broadly. It is sufficient to be the beneficiary of assets, even where this is well concealed through complex structures involving a trust.
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