No fewer than nine Russian oligarchs have initiated legal proceedings to recover their funds, which are currently held by Euroclear, the European securities depository in Brussels. Daily De Tijd was first to report the news that has meanwhile been confirmed to VRT. It is not yet clear exactly how much money is involved.
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Russian oligarchs hope to reclaim their fortunes from Euroclear, start legal proceedings
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The nine oligarchs are invoking a so-called “arbitration procedure.” “They are invoking old agreements between the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union and the Soviet Union dating from 1989, and between the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union and Kazakhstan from 1998,” explains Francis Adyns of the Belgian Finance Ministry.
The oligarchs’ demarche bypasses conventional legal institutions. Some 200 cases have already been filed with the Council of State, Belgium’s highest administrative court but so far, the Council of State has consistently ruled that the asset freezes are justified. Proceedings have also been initiated before the European Court of Justice, the highest judicial authority of the European Union.
Among its many tasks the Council of State serves both as a legal advisor to Belgium's legislative branches of power (reviewing draft bills) and as an administrative litigation service that resolves disputes between citizens and the government.
What are oligarchs?
Russian oligarchs are extremely wealthy business tycoons who gained immense wealth and political influence following the 1991 Soviet collapse by gaining control of state-owned assets. They represent a small, elite class with close ties to the Kremlin, often controlling mining, oil, and media industries. While powerful, they are generally subservient to Vladimir Putin, the president of the Rusian Federation, operating within a system of state capitalism that rewards loyalty, or else facing asset seizure and imprisonment.
Now the oligarchs are trying a different approach. “In such an arbitration proceeding, after a cooling-off period, both parties select a representative. They then decide to appoint a chairperson to settle the dispute. But a ruling is not expected immediately,” Adyns emphasizes. And then there is still the question of whether they will prevail.
Questions about these investment treaties have been raised for some time
The lack of transparency in the legal proceedings surrounding the investment treaties has long been contested. Although the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union (BLEU) has not concluded any new bilateral investment treaties since 2010, investors can still file lawsuits under the existing agreements. “It is also an atypical way to get around these freezes.”
Flemish ecologist lawmaker Meyrem Almaci has already called for the termination of the treaties in question. “Through oligarchs, Russia has Belgium—and by extension the entire EU—in a stranglehold,” she says. “The Flemish ecologists have for years been pushing to terminate the treaties on which these claims are based, because they pose a direct threat to our security.”