The Commission also proposes that the confiscated money be paid “into a common fund to help Ukraine”, explained the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, on Wednesday.
Article written by
Posted
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
An initiative that promises to be complex. On Wednesday May 25, Brussels presented proposals to allow the confiscation of the assets of oligarchs on the EU blacklist, and who are trying to evade sanctions. The European Commission wants to achieve this by harmonizing the criminal justice response to the violation of sanctions within the EU – a response so far disparate.
According to a draft directive, confiscation of assets would be possible for individuals – Russians and Belarusians – sanctioned, for example by moving their yacht to international waters, or by transferring their properties to nominees or front companies. This measure is also possible for those engaged in criminal activities such as money laundering.
The Commission proposes that the confiscated money be paid “on a common fund to help Ukraine”explained the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, during a press conference on Wednesday.
Some 10 billion euros in assets of sanctioned personalities have been frozen in the EU, and 200 billion euros in transactions have been blocked, he said. In total, since the invasion of Crimea in 2014, 1,091 individuals and 80 entities have been subject to asset freezes and bans from entering the EU.
But “at present, the divergence of penal qualifications and sanctions applicable to the violation of restrictive measures can lead to impunity“, underlined Didier Reynders. In 13 Member States, the violation of sanctions is of a criminal nature or administrative depending on its seriousness, and it is only subject to administrative sanctions in two other countries.
In order to unify the criminal response of the Twenty-Seven, and to facilitate legal proceedings and convictions, Brussels proposes to add the violation of sanctions to the list of “eurocrimes”.