(Updated with comments)
by Catarina Demony
LISBON, May 14 (Reuters) – Portugal has blocked the sale of a 10 million euro ($10.4 million) mansion on the grounds that it belongs to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, hit by sanctions over of the war in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Joao Cravinho said on Saturday.
The property register of the mansion located in the luxury resort of Quinta do Lago (Algarve) was frozen on March 25 – which means that the house cannot be sold, rented or mortgaged – at the request of the Ministry of Business foreign countries, a month after Russia invaded Ukraine.
“We have a strong belief, which has not been fully confirmed, that the house belongs to Roman Abramovich,” Joao Cravinho said on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Berlin. “The challenge here is that a lot of sanctioned people don’t have their properties and assets in their name.”
According to the Publico newspaper, which first reported the information, Roman Abramovich tried to sell the property 15 days before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine through Delaware-based Millhouse Views LLC. , owned by Millhouse LLC, which manages its assets.
A spokesman for the former owner of Chelsea Football Club, however, told Reuters he had “no property in Portugal” and that Millhouse Views LCC was not linked to the billionaire. “In fact, we have never heard of this company,” he added.
Portugal’s largest bank, Caixa Geral de Depositos, became aware of the attempted sale and alerted authorities, according to Publico. The bank declined to comment.
Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the British government and the European Union for his links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he denies.
The billionaire obtained Portuguese nationality in April 2021 on the basis of a law offering naturalization to descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula during the medieval Inquisition.
(French version Benjamin Mallet)