Raid on Russian oligarch
Customs confiscates luxury cars at Tegernsee
October 5th, 2023, 12:35 p.m
During a raid on a property on Lake Tegernsee, police and customs confiscated high-quality vehicles. They could belong to a Russian oligarch who ends up on the EU sanctions list when the war of aggression against Ukraine begins.
Investigators from the Central Office for Sanctions Enforcement (ZfS) raided a villa on Lake Tegernsee. The action was directed against a Russian entrepreneur. Among other things, several high-quality luxury vehicles were transported from the property in Rottach-Egern. Around 30 investigators searched the lakeside villa, which was cordoned off with tape.
The ZfS announced that the central office’s Matryoshka special commission was searching several properties in the greater Munich area and on Lake Tegernsee as part of a case against a Russian national. According to the information, the action was directed against a Russian national listed in the Annex to the EU Sanctions Regulation. In response to the war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU imposed massive sanctions on Russian citizens and companies.
According to a ZfS spokesman, the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Düsseldorf Tax Investigation Department, the Federal Police and the Munich Customs Investigation Office were also involved in the operation. The action is based on appropriate judicial search warrants. The person concerned is listed in Annex I of the EU Sanctions Regulation, it said. As a result, all funds and resources owned or held by the person – or held or controlled by the person – are frozen. They are not allowed to be sold.
Oligarch successfully defends himself against search
It was only in September 2022 that two properties on Tegernsee and one in the Taunus and the yacht “Dilbar” in Bremen were searched. These are said to have been properties belonging to the Russian-Uzbek oligarch Alisher Usmanov. He took action against the search and achieved partial success in court at the end of May. The regional court in Frankfurt am Main declared searches of apartments and a yacht that had taken place in September as part of an investigation into money laundering against him illegal. However, it is unclear whose assets the current raid involves.
According to its own information, the ZfS is identifying corresponding assets. If there are relevant indications, the ZfS will carry out the necessary investigations within the framework of administrative law. For tactical reasons, no further information can be given about the specific action at the moment.