the District court of Helsinki dismissed the claim of businessman Boris Rotenberg of four Scandinavian banks, which refused to service his accounts because of US sanctions.
“Vedomosti” familiar with the decision provided by the court.
the Helsinki District court decided that Rothenberg could not prove that they are resident in the European economic area, furthermore, in terms of working with clients, banks could refuse service to Rothenberg, said the court’s decision. Also according to Finnish law, banks could not take such a significant risk, which could arise from the continuation of the work by Rothenberg.
Rotenberg is a Finnish citizen, he is under U.S. sanctions, but not included in the sanctions lists of the European Union. However, Scandinavian banks refused to process his payments, they comply with US sanctions, to continue cooperation with us banks.
Rotenberg has sold the largest contractor “Gazprom” the funds from the transaction, the businessman plans to invest in Russian Business
Lawyer Rotenberg on the case Michael Saarikoski confirmed that he had received the court’s decision. Now, a businessman may challenge the decision in Appellate court of Helsinki. That the court in Helsinki will make a decision January 13, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
In October 2018, Bloomberg, citing its sources wrote that Rothenberg has filed lawsuits against several Scandinavian banks. According to the Agency, the lawsuit was filed October 4, 2018 – Rotenberg accused the banks of violating the terms of service. A few days Danish Danske Bank and Swedish Handelsbanken and Nordea, which were part of the material, Bloomberg, confirmed the receipt of lawsuits from Rotenberg Finnish state broadcasting company Yle. Another referred to the Bank of the Finnish OP Corporate Bank – has not responded to the request of journalists. In February 2019, Yle reported to dismiss Rotenberg Helsinki district court.
As a rule, caught in the sanction lists of people trying to challenge the sanctions themselves, says the NSP partner Ilya Rachkov. He couldn’t remember when he challenged the refusal of banks to serve these customers. In this case, banks are illegal, said Rachkov: Boris Rotenberg are only included in the sanctions list of the USA, not the EU, so European banks can work with it. But the banks assess the risk – they spend dollar settlements, have correspondent accounts in the United States, so they prefer not to serve such customer before the court decision, concludes Crustaceans.
in the Fall of 2014, Nordea Bank has stopped servicing the accounts of the Finnish company Langvik Capital, which is owned by the family of Rotenberg, citing the introduction of Boris Rotenberg and his brother Arkady in the US sanctions list.
the Us sanctions against the Rotenberg brothers was introduced in 2014 Arkady Rotenberg, unlike his brother, included in the sanctions list of the European Union. Boris Rotenberg did not come under European sanctions, because it is a Finnish citizen.
Representatives of Boris Rotenberg and Svenska Handelsbanken declined to comment. “Vedomosti” was awaiting the response of other banks who have been sued.