Aven receives permission to transfer EUR 235.9 million to frozen bank account in Latvia - press

RIGA - Russian-Latvian double citizen and billionaire Petr Aven has been granted a permission to transfer 235.9 million euros from the funds that have so far not been affected by the European Union (EU) sanctions into a frozen bank account in Latvia, magazine Ir reported.

The Financial Intelligence Service (FID) gave permission to transfer EUR 235,885,899 to a person on the sanctions list in February, according to information provided by the service to Ir magazine. The transfer was authorized from an account in a Central Asian country, a former Soviet republic, that has not imposed sanctions.

Aven did not comment to the magazine on why he had asked for this authorization.

At the same time, Ir noted that the data on frozen funds in Latvian bank accounts in February and March show that the relevant transfer to Latvia has not yet taken place. If this happens, the money will be frozen immediately.

Ir also noted that the amount is four times higher than the amount currently frozen in the accounts of all persons subject to sanctions in Latvia. The total amount frozen in financial institutions in March was EUR 54.56 million.

The magazine also pointed out that earlier this year it was reported that Aven and his long-time business partner Mikhail Fridman sold their shares in the Russian Alfa Bank.

"Aven has fulfilled all the requirements necessary for the lifting of sanctions," his spokesman, Igor Bass, told the magazine.

The FID has not given a clear answer on whether the transfer of the proceeds from the sale of the Russian bank to a Latvian account could really be an argument to lift sanctions on the Russian billionaire. One of the criteria states that "influential businessmen operating in Russia" can be included in the EU sanctions lists, but "the sale of assets in Russia by a sanctions subject does not in itself constitute grounds for lifting the sanctions imposed".

Aven was placed on the EU sanctions list following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since his inclusion on the sanctions list, Aven has been working to have them lifted.

LETA already reported that Aven indirectly owned 12.4 percent of Alfa Bank, but at the beginning of this year he stopped his participation in the bank.

Aven was sanctioned by the US, the UK, the EU and other countries.

At the end of last year, a Ukrainian court lifted the partial seizure of VEON's corporate rights in Kijivstar, Ukraine's largest mobile operator, which was imposed at the time to prevent Aven and Fridman from profiting from Kijivstar.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a list of the world's richest people, shows that Aven's wealth has increased by USD 1.42 billion (EUR 1.36 billion) to USD 7.38 billion over the past year.

Through his Luxembourg-based holding company LetterOne, Aven co-owns the European oil and gas company Wintershall Dea, the international mobile phone company Veon, Turkey's largest mobile phone company Turkcell and other health and technology companies.

Aven also holds Latvian citizenship and has lived in Latvia with his family since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.