Press Release: EU Court Lifts Part Of Andriy Klyuyev’s Sanctions

12 Jul 2018, 53 mins ago

Gherson have acted for Andriy Klyuyev since April 2014. Mr Klyuyev, the former head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, was placed on the EU sanctions list in March 2014 in connection with allegations of misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds.

Yesterday, 11 July 2018, the General Court of the EU annulled the financial sanctions imposed upon Mr Klyuyev by the EU Council from March 2017 to March 2018.

We have maintained throughout that these sanctions were nothing more than a politically motivated attack on him by elements of the new government in Ukraine.

The judgment is a powerful vindication of our client’s position throughout. The General Court held – again – that the evidence provided by the Ukrainian authorities to justify the imposition of sanctions was incomplete and unsatisfactory. The Council should have sought further clarification and evidence before proceeding to re-impose the sanctions.

In annulling the restrictive measures the court stated:
“The Council committed a manifest error of assessment in considering that it was not required to take into account the evidence produced by the applicant and the arguments developed by him or to make further enquiries of the Ukrainian authorities, despite the fact that that evidence and those arguments were such as to give rise to legitimate doubts regarding the reliability of the information provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine”.

Roger Gherson and Thomas Garner of Gherson solicitors and Brian Kennelly QC and Jason Pobjoy of Blackstone Chambers have been instructed in the case since April 2014 and today marks the culmination of over 4 years of litigation before the EU Court.

The imposition of these sanctions has caused our client and his family significant distress and reputational damage and has had a devastating effect on his business interests. Our client welcomes the judgment and intends to aggressively pursue damages for the harm these sanctions have caused.

The judgment can be found here.