Fate Of Russian Billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s Mega-Yacht In Germany Uncertain
, 2022-03-02 02:00:00,
Alisher Usmanov’s Dilbar yacht.
Getty Images
CORRECTION (March 3): According to the Ministry for Economy and Innovation in the German state of Hamburg, the country’s authorities have not seized the Dilbar, a 512-foot yacht owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov. As Forbes reported on Wednesday, work on the ship has been halted at the Hamburg shipyard where it has been stationed for refitting work since October.
Three sources had told Forbes it had been seized, but a representative for Usmanov cited the statement from the ministry in Hamburg to confirm that it had not. In its statement, the ministry elaborated that the German federal customs agency is the “responsible enforcement authority” and would have to issue an export waiver for the yacht to leave, and that “no yacht leaves port that is not allowed to do so.”
The yacht is registered in the Cayman Islands and owned through Klaret Continental Leasing Limited, a company based in Malta, according to public data from vessel tracking service VesselFinder. A spokesperson for the Malta Business Registry told Forbes that Klaret Continental Leasing Limited was a branch of a Cyprus-based company which closed in December 2018. The Cyprus company, also named Klaret Continental Leasing Limited, was dissolved in September 2019, according to corporate records in Cyprus. A spokesperson for Usmanov told the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which Forbes is collaborating with on assets linked to Russian oligarchs, that the yacht had “long ago been transferred into an irrevocable trust” and that Usmanov had “donated” the beneficial rights to members of his family. That makes it difficult to tie the yacht directly to Usmanov for the purpose of sanctions.
In its statement, the ministry in Hamburg added that restrictions can be imposed on a yacht owned by a sanctioned Russian individual only “if the ownership situation is clearly clarified and all these possessions are also sanctioned.” The ministry confirmed to Forbes that the yacht is still in the dock at the Hamburg shipyards of Blohm+Voss.
Forbes contacted the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Federal Customs Service but has not received an immediate response.
Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov was sanctioned by the European Union on Monday. Two days later, Forbes has learned from three sources in the yacht industry that work has been halted on one of his prized possessions—the…
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