Businessman Oleg Deripaska (Forbes estimates his fortune at $2.5 billion) challenged the imposition of Australian sanctions against him, The Canberra Times reports. The billionaire appealed to the Federal Court of Australia with a request to review this decision; his interests are represented by the former Attorney General of this country (in 2017-2021) Christian Porter.
Canberra blacklisted Deripaska in March last year; former Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne (resigned May 2022) statedthat the measures are intended to put “pressure on oligarchs close to Russian President Vladimir Putin (*international criminal).” This decision blocked Deripaska from entering the country and “deprived him of the opportunity to profit from his participation in the Queensland Alumina company,” the newspaper writes.
Queensland Alumina is an alumina refinery located in Gladstone, Queensland. 20% of the company belonged to Rusal through its Australian subsidiary Alumina and Bauxite Company, 80% to Rio Tinto Alcan. In March last year, Australia banned supplies of alumina and aluminum ores to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). Rio Tinto later decided to sever commercial relations with Moscow and statedwhich gained full control of the Gladstone plant. Rusal appealed to an Australian court demanding the return of its share in the company.
Deripaska said in a statement that there were insufficient grounds for imposing sanctions, and that ex-minister Payne was guided by “irrelevant considerations.” According to the businessman, Canberra was influenced by decisions of other Western countries on sanctions against the entrepreneur (he is under US sanctions, CanadaGreat Britain), refusal of the American court abolish restrictions and “gossip on the Internet.”
Porter, speaking at the court in Perth, said Payne had failed in her duties and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade “failed to adequately advise her”.
The Australian government justified the restrictions on the grounds that Deripaska maintained “close ties with Putin (*international criminal)” and “was engaged in activities or performed functions that were economically or strategically important to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism).” In addition, they said in Canberra, the businessman had previously said that he “does not separate himself from the Russian state,” The Guardian reports.
Deripaska called these allegations “vague”, unsubstantiated and noted that “their origin is unknown.” In his statement, the businessman also denied that he performed any functions of strategic importance for Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), the newspaper writes. He called the sanctions legally unjustified.
In October in interview with The Financial Times Deripaska said Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) had withstood Western sanctions due to military action in Ukraine. At the beginning of December he wrote in his Telegramthat in the next four years “the sanctions can be considered a completed exercise.”