Sanctions|The time window for selling the hall expires at the end of this week, says Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (kok).
Brussels
State is preparing to expropriate the Helsinki hall, i.e. the former Hartwall arena, says the foreign minister Elina Valtonen (cook). According to him, there is a big public interest in getting the hall into its proper use.
The hall is owned by a Russian oligarch under Western sanctions Gennady Timchenko and the Rotenberg family. They have been in talks to sell the hall, but the deadline for deals is closing at the end of this week.
“It seems that the voluntary sale of the shares of the Helsinki Hall is not going to happen, despite the fact that there have been many different companies,” Valtonen said in connection with the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg.
It would have been possible to implement the exception permit by June 30. By then, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should apply to the European Commission for permission to deviate from the economic sanctions. According to EU sanctions against Russia, the hall is a frozen asset that cannot be sold.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not received documents confirming the sale of shares. On the basis of insufficient information, we cannot grant an exception permit either. The time to conclude a deal and grant an exemption is starting to run out,” says Valtonen.
Valtonen now there are two options: the sale or expropriation of the leasehold of the hall building and the real estate.
“The road to forced redemption is of course a longer process, but it’s starting to look like the voluntary trade is not happening,” says Valtonen.
“The sale of the rental right would also require the voluntary nature of the sellers, and if that has not been found for this transaction [hallin myymiseen] so hardly here either.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now figuring out how to quickly prepare special legislation related to the redemption of the hall, Valtonen says.
Different sorts of there have been several buyer candidates for the hall, but the deals have not materialized. Valtonen does not take a position on whether the deals have been caught by the buyer or the seller.
“I emphasize that in this context as well, the sanctions legislation must be followed, and the income from the sale must be frozen. And when they have to be frozen, you can of course assess what interest the seller has in promoting the matter.”
The news is updated.
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