Helsinki|According to the board member of the hall company, they are trying to resolve the legal issues. According to the information provided by the Ministry to STT, the expropriation of the holding company’s shares has not been applied for.
Helsinki two exemption applications have been submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the share transactions of the arena’s background company.
The ministry’s sanctions team does not provide more detailed information about the applicants or what the applications are like in the response it sent to STT on Tuesday. Both exemption applications are currently being processed by the ministry.
The controlling power in the background company of the arena, Helsinki Halli oy, is exercised by Russian oligarchs, who are subject to sanctions imposed by the EU. The majority of the holding company is owned by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin belong to the close circle Gennady Timchenko mixed Boris and Arkady Rotenberg through their own companies, and the holdings in question have been frozen by the enforcement agency in Finland.
Due to sanctions, the hall has stood empty since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Timtshenko and Boris Rotenberg also have Finnish citizenship.
It has been publicly reported that, among other things, the city of Helsinki is interested in buying the hall in order to put it back into use.
Board member of the hall company Kai Paananen tells STT that there are legal issues related to the sale of the assets subject to sanctions, which the parties are currently trying to resolve.
“If necessary, the owners’ representatives are ready to talk with the city of Helsinki as well, and the city knows this. There is nothing else to comment on at this stage,” says Paananen.
European last December, the Union Council decided to enable, for a limited time, the sale of assets subject to sanctions under certain conditions. According to current information, the deadline allowed by the sanctions regulations for the completion of the deals expires at the end of June. The license for the trade would be granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland.
If the Ministry of Foreign Affairs approves the conditions of the hall company’s share sale and the transaction with one of the buyer candidates takes place, the sellers covered by the hall’s sanctions would not receive the transaction amount directly, but it would remain frozen by the authorities. The property under EU sanctions seems to just change shape.
At the same time that EU sanctions regulations allow for the sale of assets subject to sanctions, the EU also allows the expropriation of assets subject to sanctions if necessary.
Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not aware that the expropriation of the hall company has been applied for.
The story was updated throughout on June 11, 2024 at 4:23 p.m.
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