By AML Intelligence Correspondent
RUSSIAN billionaire Petr Aven’s estate has agreed to forfeit £784,000 following a milestone investigation from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
The move, which was approved at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, marked the NCA’s first successful forfeiture of funds from an investigation into the proceeds of alleged sanctions evasion.
Mr Aven was previously the head of Alfa-Bank, Russia’s largest commercial bank. In March 2022, he resigned from the board of directors at Alfa-Bank to help the company avoid sanctions.
Mr Aven was added to the EU sanctions list in March 2022, with the bloc calling him “one of Vladimir Putin’s closest oligarchs”. However, he was removed from the list in April 2024.
The General Court of the European Union said there was not sufficient evidence that Mr Aven supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and said that “none of the reasons set out in the initial acts” were sufficiently substantiated, adding that his inclusion on the EU list was “therefore not justified”.
In May 2022, the NCA obtained freezing orders relating to nine bank accounts connected to Mr Aven.
The Westminster Magistrates’ Court has now approved an agreement between the NCA and agents acting on behalf of Mr Aven to forfeit more than £783,000 held in those accounts.
The NCA had accused Mr Aven of being a “pro-Kremlin oligarch”, an allegation which was denied by Mr Aven’s lawyers.
The investigation focused on approximately £3.7 million moved by a U.S. trust organisation to a UK entity just hours before European sanctions were imposed on Russia.
The NCA had previously demanded that Mr Aven forfeit up to £1.2 million.
James Bolton-Jones, a senior advocacy adviser at Spotlight on Corruption, said in a statement: “The NCA’s first successful forfeiture of funds from an investigation into the proceeds of alleged sanctions evasion is a major milestone that should spur greater ambition for future sanctions enforcement action.”
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