The Guardian

Ukraine to get proceeds from sale of Putin ally’s $200m superyacht

Rupert Neate Wealth correspondent

A $200m (£163m) superyacht owned by Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch who is under sanctions, is to be sold at auction after its seizure in Croatia this year.

The Ukrainian government said a Croatian court had ruled that Medvedchuk’s 92.5-metre Royal Romance yacht should be transferred to the Ukrainian Asset Recovery and Management Agency (Arma), which said it would “preserve the economic value by selling it at auction”.

It would be the first such sale on behalf of the people of Ukraine since western governments imposed restrictions on the assets of hundreds of oligarchs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

Medvedchuk, 68, a pro-Kremlin politician, was arrested in Ukraine in April and handed over to Russia in a prisoner exchange in September. He is often referred to as the “dark prince” of Ukrainian politics, and Putin is his daughter’s godfather.

The Arma, a special branch of the Ukrainian government tasked with “finding, tracing and management of assets derived from corruption”, said its agents had flown to Croatia and “inspected the yacht belonging to the family members of a people’s deputy and one of the leaders of a political force banned in Ukraine”.

It said: “Arma searched for the specified asset within the framework of the criminal proceedings and subsequently after imposing the arrest received the elite property to preserve the economic value by selling it at auctions.”

Croatian police raided the yacht last month on behalf of the FBI, according to a Croatian newspaper, Jutarnji list. It said a court in Split had granted a search warrant request from the US justice department on 15 November, and confirmed the search had taken place on 19 November.

The judge, Dinko Mešin, is said to have told the newspaper that the search warrant named Medvedchuk and his wife, Oksana Marchenko, in connection with alleged money laundering.

Royal Romance, which was built by the Dutch contractor Feadship in 2005, has cabins for 14 guests and space for 21 crew, as well as a swimming pool with “flowing waterfall cascading over the stern”.

In September, a 72.5-metre superyacht seized from a Russian oligarch under sanctions, Dmitry Pumpyansky, was sold at auction for $37.5m, with proceeds going to JP Morgan, as part of a claim by the US bank.

Business

en-gb

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://guardian.pressreader.com/article/282312504095257

Guardian/Observer